Emily Potter Eclipse
by theShadowhuntressNymph
Summary: Emily Potter has returned to her adoptive father in the small town of Forks. Seeking a little peace to come to terms with the sacrifices of the past year while fighting a wizarding war she comes across a familiar face and finds herself falling for someone that is everything she hates.
1. Chapter 1

Pulling up in front of her father's house in the little town of Forks, Washington Emily leaned back in her seat and sighed. She wondered exactly how she had convinced herself that coming here was a good idea. Over the years she had grown to despise this town and the necessity of hiding her true identity from the people who lived here. You see Emily wasn't your average human, she was a witch with a twin brother named Harry. The two had been adopted by their father Charlie shortly after the death of their parents and brought from England to be raised in America far away from those wishing the infants harm.

Their childhood wasn't terrible in the small town but they always had to be careful to avoid too much contact with the townspeople, which was hard when your father is the local Police Chief. At the age of eleven Charlie had made the decision to allow the twins to return to their home country and begin their formal magical training at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For the first time in her life Emily didn't have to pretend to be anything but herself, though the witch quickly learned that her new found 'freedom' came at a cost, especially when it came to her relationship with her twin.

It had been just over six years since being fully introduced to the magical world and it had been anything but easy, what with a mad man out to kill her brother and take her as his wife, it seemed like true peace always alluded her. Maybe that was why she was sitting here staring at the steering wheel of her new car in a town full of muggles. For all the downsides of having to hide her magic, Forks had always been a quiet little place snuggled into the heart of the Olympic Peninsula, a place despite everything she crazily claimed as home.

Looking towards the house Emily noticed her father standing on the porch watching her, smiling and giving a small wave she quickly gathered herself and climbed out of the car. She righted her dress hoping her father hadn't been standing there too long, she didn't want him to feel offended by her hesitation. His mustache twitched with his slanted smile as she made her way into her father's arms. He was slightly thinner than the last time she saw him and she had noticed his hair was peppered with a bit more grey than before, had it really been almost two years since she had seen this man?

Emily held tightly onto her father and relished the safety she felt in his arms. After a few moments she felt her Dad kiss her forehead before pulling back to get a good look at her, he seemed to take her all in with a worried expression, cautious of what he might find before him. Once certain she was truly there and safely in one piece he smiled and Emily knew her glamours were holding strong as he leaned forward and pressed another kiss to her temple, "Missed you Kiddo!"

"I missed you too Dad."

"Do you need help with your bags?" Charlie asked looking back towards the car.

Emily shook her head and pointed to her coat pocket, "Only have the one trunk so I shrunk it and put a feather light charm on it."

"You didn't go through security with it there, did you?"

"I avoided planes this time," the witch answered smirking at her father's face, he clearly was recalling when she had flown home for the summer holidays after her first year attending Hogwarts. "I came through MACUSA then took a portkey to Seattle where I picked up the car."

The Chief nodded in approval before turning to the house and opening the screen door, "Well, why don't we get you settled into your old room. I promise Bella hasn't been in it, she's bunking in Harry's room."

Emily had forgotten about her 'sister'. Apparently she had decided to move in with their Dad after her mom, Renee had remarried some minor league baseball player. Looking back over her shoulder at the driveway she noticed a beat up old truck, "Is she here?"

"No she's at school, her boyfriend picked her up this morning."

Nodding Emily noticed her father didn't look too pleased which made the witch wonder what the muggle was doing to drive their father nuts this time.

"Why don't you head up and I'm just going to check a few emails from work?"

Emily couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at the man's words, her Dad was never one to make a big fuss about things and his simple comment was his way of letting her know he wasn't going to push her, or at least not yet. For now it was like every other time she had returned from school. Emily leaned in to give her Dad one last hug before climbing the stairs to get to her old room.

It didn't take the witch long to get settled. Everything was how she had left it back before her fifth year, the walls were still a dark grey with white trim and the black bookshelves were filled to the brim with her many magical tomes and muggle novels. She had however needed to reinforce the magic on her private bathroom but that had only taken her a few minutes until it was restored to its white marbled perfection. Growing up she had tired of sharing a bathroom with two boys so her Uncle Remus had made the magical addition to her room on one of his many trips to visit the Potter twins, something she was extremely grateful for the older she became.

Tracing her hand over the white duvet she smiled before throwing herself on the bed. Laughing at her own antics she looked up at the ceiling and the small black chandelier her father had hung for her years ago. The room was nearly perfect, it was missing just one thing… Propping herself up with her left arm she pointed her wand at the wall in front of the bed, slowly a large stone fireplace began to appear. Smiling at her work Emily allowed her body to fall back onto the bed as she closed her eyes.

Emily sat up hearing a knock at her door, rubbing her eyes she realized she must have fallen asleep. Despite having used magical methods of travel she was still on Britain time and it was far later there than in the states. "Come in!"

Charlie slowly pushed the door open and took in the sight of his yawning daughter and smiled, "I wanted to see how things were coming along." Looking around the room he whistled, "Fancy fireplace you got there Kiddo."

"It finishes the room," Emily said pushing herself off the bed.

Charlie simply shrugged, he had never been good at decorating so he would trust his daughter on this subject. "If you say so."

Emily's stomach chose that moment to rumble and the pair looked down at it and laughed, "I'm starving."

"I can hear that," Charlie teased. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Nothing since breakfast really," Emily answered thinking over the crazy day she had back in London. "Although Mipsy did give me a blueberry muffin to eat before I went to the Ministry."

"Did you actually eat it?"

Emily gave her father a scandalized look, "Of course I did, that elf is the best chef I know!"

"Well that's something, why don't you go pick up Bella while I run to the diner and grab our usual so no one has to cook tonight," Charlie called exiting his daughter's room. "It's not house elf quality but it's good."

Emily quickly followed the man, "Wait a second old man! Why don't you go get her and I pick up the dinner?"

Charlie was already halfway down the stairs and looked up at the witch rather sheepishly, "We got into a small fight this morning, I'm probably not the first person she wants to see right now."

"And I am?" Emily looked at her father as if he had lost his mind. The two girls had a very strained relationship, Bella saw Emily as her replacement in Charlie's life and envied the witch for her magic. Emily on the other hand disliked the muggle for her treatment of their father and the pain she had caused him in refusing to see him more than a few weeks each summer.

"It was a big fight," he shrugged.

"Uh-huh," crossing her arms Emily leaned against the wall at the top of the stairs. "About what?"

"She wants to go see Renee down in Florida this weekend."

"And…" Emily prompted.

"Apparently her boyfriend has a ticket too."

"So you told her no," Emily said guessing correctly by the look on her father's face.

"And she may have threatened to move out…"

Her father didn't need to finish his thought Emily knew how much her dad had wanted to have Bella living with them as one big happy family for years, the muggle threatening to leave would get the poor man to agree to anything she desired.

Charlie scoffed looking away from his daughter's knowing face, "It's this Edward kid she's dating…"

Smirking Emily made her way down to the step her father was on and put her arm around him, "I'm sure he can't be that bad, even if he is dating Bella."

"You haven't been here," Charlie said choosing to ignore Emily's jab at her sister.

Emily felt a pang of guilt run through her, "I know, I'm sorry." The words weren't enough but it was all she really could offer him right now.

"It's not your fault," Charlie pulled his daughter tighter into his side. "I'm glad you're back."

 _For now_ , Emily added silently in her head while out loud she smiled and kissed her father's greying head, "Me too Dad. You sure you don't want to pick her up?"

"Oh but then you'd miss out on the surprise!" Pulling away the man finished making his way down the stairs before turning to smirk at his less than amused daughter.

Realizing he wasn't going to back down she rolled her eyes, "Fine, show me."

They locked eyes and Emily pushed herself into her father's mind. Seeing the exact route she needed to take Emily was tempted to press for more, she could feel him hiding something. It wouldn't be hard but she decided there was no need for it, if her father thought she needed to know he would tell her.

"You good?" her Dad asked as he grabbed his coat and keys by the door.

"I'll be fine, happier if I could apparate."

"Eh, I'll take the cruiser any day."

"Of course you would," Emily said joining her father as she summoned her coat and shoes. "Anything I should know before heading to, what I'm guessing, is her boyfriend's house?"

"Nope."

Shaking her head Emily looked around for the time as she slipped on her heels, "How long was I asleep?"

"A couple hours, I figured you needed it." Nodding Emily followed her Dad outside to their cars. "I'll see you soon Kiddo!"

Emily watched as Charlie pulled out of the driveway laughing. What on earth was so funny?

Following the route Charlie had shown her Emily made her way to the outskirts of the small town. She enjoyed the scenery as she passed the little stores and the beautiful greenery that lined the roads. Turning down a long driveway the witch found herself pulling up to a large white house. It had to be one of the older homes in the area although far larger than most she had seen in the small town.

Climbing out of her car Emily made her way to the front door. Why on earth she had to be the one to pick up Bella she had no idea. Her Dad was probably getting a kick out of the idea of her being forced to mingle with muggles even if it was only for a few minutes. Knocking, Emily only had to wait mere seconds before the door swung open to reveal a pixie like girl bouncing a tad nervously. The girl wore blue jeans and a purple blouse, most likely designer and her hair was short and spikey. "Can I help you?"

Within seconds Emily knew the true reason for her father's humor earlier, he hadn't sent her to a family of muggles but instead to a coven of vampires. By the amber color of the girl's eyes, the witch assumed they were 'veggie vamps'. Internally Emily sneered at the thought, she hated when people denied their true nature. Vampires drank human blood, why would one choose to live in a weakened state off animals instead of embracing their true abilities.

"I'm here to pick up Bella," the witch started hiding her disgust at the being before her. "My father, Charlie sent me." The girl's eyes seemed to instantly glaze over at her words and instead of letting Emily in she seemed focused on point somewhere behind the witch. It wasn't but mere moments before a very familiar face came up behind the small vampire and moved her slightly aside.

The man had shoulder length blonde hair and the telltale pale skin, but unlike most of his kind he was rather scarred something Emily could clearly see from underneath the rolled up cuffs of his flannel shirt. What truly surprised Emily though was the man's eyes, they had been a different color the last time they met. Clearly reading her emotions the vampire ducked his head and waved the witch into the house. "I'm sorry Alice isn't feeling well. Bella is in the living room, we were about to sit down for dinner."

So he wasn't going to acknowledge her, two could play that game. Stepping past the vampire who was now rocking the pixie as her hands grabbed her head Emily took in her surroundings. The house for being inhabited by vampires was rather open especially as she noticed the back of the home seemed to be more glass than anything else.

"What are you doing here?"

Bella's voice was as grating on the witch's nerves as ever, to most it was a soft voice of innocence but Emily knew better. She could hear the slight hint of annoyance underneath that the muggle always seemed to have when speaking to her.

"Hello to you too, Dad sent me to pick you up for dinner," Emily answered watching the man behind her sister frown as he looked between the two girls, she assumed that he must be Edward. Feeling a slight push against her mind Emily smirked at the copper headed vampire, so Bella was dating a gifted vampire. Unfortunately for him Emily's occlumency barriers were stronger than most, he would learn nothing from her unless she allowed it.

"But Esme already finished cooking," Bella said motioning to the table behind her where indeed there was quite the spread laid out.

"You're welcome to join us," a soft voice called out. A new vampire joined the growing group from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the apron she was wearing, the kind looking woman extended her arm to the witch, "It's nice to meet you I'm Esme Cullen, Edward's mother."

"It's lovely to meet you as well Mrs. Cullen." Emily politely took the woman's hand playing along with the charade. "But I couldn't possibly intrude upon you. My father is likely already waiting for us and as I have just arrived today I'm sure you can understand my want to return to his side. I've missed him being away at school."

Nodding Esme touched her hand to her chest. "Of course, we understand," the woman looked pointedly at Edward who seemed as if he was about to protest. "I'm sure you must be tired, Charlie mentioned you and your brother attend school in London."

"We fly into London but our school is actually in Scotland," Emily corrected the woman.

"Well he must be so happy you're home! We had hoped to meet you last summer but Charlie said you were accepted into a special academic program."

Nodding Emily smiled but inwardly rolled her eyes, if only she had been allowed to spend her time studying. She was willing to bet she had seen more this past year than what all the vampires had witnessed over their many years combined, well all except for one… "Yes sadly I was unable to come home but it was unavoidable."

"I'm sure, at least we get to meet now."

"True and while the food looks lovely I'm afraid we will have to pass tonight. I'm sure your family will enjoy it though!" Turning Emily looked to the blonde who cautiously watched her, "You have a few boys here and this one looks especially hungry, you'll have to give him an extra piece of _chicken_."

Emily smirked at the low growl that came from the man's chest. The other vampires looked nervously over at Jasper then back to Emily clearly worried she had heard his slip. A booming laughter cut the tension as a large muscular vampire came quickly down the stairs. "Jazz man, I told you not to wait till dinner! Don't worry it's just his stomach, he's been complaining all day that he was hungry. I think he's going to need more than just Esme's chicken to fill him up tonight!"

The burly vampire grabbed Jasper around the shoulders and pulled him into his side, "Right bro?" The blonde nodded shooting his coven member a warning glance. "I bet Esme would let you eat something small before Carlisle gets home!"

Jasper looked pleadingly at Esme, "I don't have to, I can wait. I don't want to spoil your beautiful meal."

Esme seemed torn for a second before nodding her head, "I know but if you're so hungry we can hear it perhaps you should sneak a little bite before your father joins us."

Jasper looked around as if waiting for someone to stop him but it never came. Surprisingly it was Bella who reached out to the vampire as he passed her walking towards the table, "You don't have…"

"Bella why don't you go get your things? Dad is waiting for us," Emily cut off the girl who threw her a glare in reply before walking off towards the staircase followed closely by her boyfriend. As the two vanished upstairs Emily gleefully watched as Jasper picked up a piece of garlic bread and sniffed it. He looked back at her and Emily merely raised an eyebrow in challenge. As he took a bite the witch could see him fighting his instinct to cringe and spit the food out, it took everything in her not to laugh at the sight.

As Jasper was forced to eat the piece of bread Emily turned and smiled at the burly vampire. "I'm Emily, Bella's sister."

"Emmett," the man smiled in return. Emily could see he was getting a kick out of his coven member's misfortune his body kept shaking with mirth every time he looked in the blonde's direction.

It didn't take long for Bella and Edward to reappear. The former glaring at Emily as the witch simply smiled and joined her by the door. "Ready?"

The human nodded slightly before moving to kiss her boyfriend goodbye. Turning to the rest of the room Emily gave a small wave, "It was nice to meet all of you, enjoy your dinner."

"The Jazz man is already enjoying it aren't you?!" Emmett boomed bumping Jasper roughly with his arm.

"Boys!" Esme called out as Jasper shoved Emmett in return. She moved towards the door giving Bella a hug and offering Emily a smile, "You two have a good night with your father and tell him hello for me."

"We will," Bella beamed at the woman. "I'm sorry you went to all that trouble."

"Don't worry dear, you just go spend some time with Charlie."

Nodding the girl followed Emily out of the house towards the car, the witch could tell she was itching to say something to her but held up a fingering halting the little outburst for a few more seconds. Once safely in the car Emily drew a few runes with her finger into the ceiling pushing her magic into it. Satisfied with her work she started the car and headed off back down the long driveway.

Without even having to look at the girl Emily knew Bella was about to blow. "Can I talk now?" she snapped.

Nodding Emily turned onto the main road back into town, "Now that it's safe."

"Safe?"

Emily simply pointed up, "Silencing wards, just in case one of your little friends wants to follow us."

"They aren't going to follow us!" Bella said glaring at her sister. "And what were you doing back there? You know what they are!"

"Of course I do."

"Then why did you make Jasper eat that food? He already hates me as it is!"

"You mean someone isn't rooting for team Bella? By the goddess we can't have that!" Emily attempted to look properly worried about the idea.

Bella crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat with a huff, "You don't understand."

Emily shrugged perhaps she didn't. Being the Potter twin sorted into Slytherin she was used to people hating her and second guessing her every move, she learned early on not to let it bother her, the idiots weren't worth her time.

After a few minutes of silence Bella decided to break the quiet atmosphere, "Why didn't Charlie send Harry to get me?"

" _Dad_ , sent me because Harry isn't here."

"Is he coming?"

Emily sighed of course Bella would want to know, those two were surprisingly close, "Hasn't he written you?"

"He said he was coming soon, I just figured since you're here…"

Emily shook her head, it would have been a good conclusion before the two had attended Hogwarts. When the twins were young they had been inseparable, where one went so did the other. Then they had started school, separated into rival Houses the two had many difficulties over the years, they were starting to work on it but with the major damage done she doubted they would ever be truly that close again.

"I don't know if this has to be said," Emily spoke as they finally turned down their street. "But I expect you to keep my secret when it comes to your little vampires."

"Fine."

Pulling back up in front of their home Bella practically jumped from the car and made her way towards the house before Emily could even turn off the engine. She followed the human at a normal pace, entering the house she watched Bella stomp up the stairs towards her room.

A chuckling sound alerted Emily to her father's presence, he was sitting in his favorite chair with a muggle game of some kind playing on the TV, "What did you do now?"

Shrugging Emily propped a leg on the arm of the sofa, "She's mad because I played stupid about knowing they were vampires."

"Sounds about right, she still thinks I haven't worked it out."

Emily gave her father a skeptical look but he only shook his head in response obviously he didn't get it either.

"How did she discover what they are then?"

"I think it has something to do with the tribe's legends, she's never talked about it with me."

"Maybe she just assumes you already know and that you'd bring it up if you were worried?"

"I am worried, this can't end well for her." Drinking the last dregs of beer from his can Charlie stood up and walked towards the stairs. "BELLA, COME DOWN FOR DINNER!"

Emily followed her father into the kitchen. The pair plated their meals and sat down, it wasn't long before they were joined by an annoyed Bella who seemed unwilling to look at or talk to either of them. The only thing that held her attention throughout dinner was the clock.

"In a rush Bells?" Charlie finally asked.

The girl looked sheepishly at her father before dropping her head to watch her fork push food around the plate. "No, I just have a big paper I need to work on tonight."

"Then it's a good thing you came home," Charlie took a bite of his steak.

"I can get my work done at Edward's," she challenged.

"Sure," Charlie said backing down quickly though Emily could tell he didn't agree with his human daughter's assessment. After a few more minutes of awkward silence it was clear Charlie was weighing whether or not he wanted to say something. "You know Bells, this isn't really a conversation I wanted to have but with what we discussed this morning…"

Bella looked up sharply from her food, her face held a bit of worry as she watched her father intently.

"I know that you and Edward are adults, and that things can get physical…"

"Oh god! Charlie, don't!" Bella's face was rapidly turning bright red much to Emily's amusement.

"I don't have much choice. If you want to go places with him, I need to know you're being safe. You know, taking precautions so that…"

Bella was practically curling in on herself trying to hide from what her father was saying, "Please, you really don't have to talk to me about this Edward isn't like that he's… old fashioned."

"Wonderful," Charlie looked to Emily who simply shrugged not really knowing what the girl meant.

"You're going to make me say it aren't you?" Bella looked mortified as she dropped her head briefly into her hands and took a deep breath, "I'm a virgin."

"Oh… well good," Charlie said seeming rather surprised by the announcement.

Standing Bella motioned for the door, "Can I go now?"

Nodding Charlie motioned at the door, Bella didn't need any further prompting as she started to dash out of the room.

"Did you want to have a talk with me too?" Emily smirked as her father rolled his eyes at her antics.

"Do I need to?"

"It certainly would be a waste of your time but your call," Emily said getting up from her place at the table. Waving her hand the dishes and silverware began to clean themselves.

"Awesome," Charlie sighed rubbing his face with both hands. "You all are going to drive me crazy one of these days."

"I'll have a bed booked for you at St. Mungo's when that day comes."

"Gee, thanks."

"I'm always looking out for you Dad," Emily said kissing the side of the man's head. "Come on let's go in the living room, you can fill me in on everything between Bella and the vampires."

As Charlie took his favorite spot in the arm chair Emily walked to the wall and ran her fingers over a few old carvings in it. Remus had carved them when the twins were younger. The intent was to create a silencing ward in the room while still allowing sound to come in from beyond it as to not lose track of the small children running around the house.

Once satisfied that the runes still worked Emily kicked off her heels and curled up on the sofa wrapping herself up in the blanket that was always folded on its back.

"So what have I missed?"

Charlie laughed as he leaned back in his chair, "A lot but I'm sure it goes both ways."

Emily simply acknowledged her father's comment with a tilt of her head, to be honest she hadn't yet decided how much she wanted to tell her father about her past year. He seemed to have expected her silence and leaned forward as he looked towards the stairs Bella had vanished up just a few minutes prior.

"I don't really know how all this started, maybe it's my own fault but she started asking about the Cullens after her first day in school. I told her the main points, Carlisle was the best doctor we have ever had in this town and that his kids seemed nice enough, never made any kind of trouble. It didn't take long for her to start focusing in on Edward, he's the only unmated one I think.

She introduced me to him and while I was hesitant I figured she wasn't aware of what he was and that he'd eventually tire of being with a human."

"Shouldn't you have been more worried about him using her as a possible meal?"

"It's crossed my mind a few times but I know Carlisle and I might have borrowed a book or two from your room when they moved here. From what I know this coven strives to be more human like and they shy away from killing people."

Emily shook her head, it was unnatural to disregard your true nature and she knew well and good that while they tried their best accidents could and probably did happen. Vampires were not meant to live tamely among humans, the need for blood, for sex, for movement drove them. Despite their stoic posture the stillness was counter to the wildness the vampire truly desired.

"You've obviously changed your mind on the situation."

"To be honest I don't know what to think anymore. At the end of last year Bella came home one night after being with the Cullen's screaming at me about how much she hated it here and how she didn't want to get tied down in this small town."

Emily raised an eyebrow at her father, that really wasn't all that uncharacteristic of her sister.

"Yeah, yeah I know what you're thinking but something was just off about it. She wouldn't let me call her mom and insisted she had to drive herself down to Phoenix that night."

"Didn't Renee move, wasn't that part of the point to her 'exile' in little old Forks?"

"She still has the house down there though, so I just chalked it up to Bella being home sick and that I'd get Renee to go meet up with her. Instead I'm getting a phone call from Carlisle that Bella is in the hospital in Phoenix and guess who's with her."

"Edward."

Charlie nodded as he ran a hand through his hair, "They say she fell down the stairs at the hotel she was staying in and somehow went through a glass window. Bells has always been clumsy but something just doesn't sit right with me…"

"Do you think he snapped and tried to drain her? Though for a vampire, a muggle vampire no less, to stop while feeding…"

"Yeah, I checked for bites while she was in the hospital. She has one on her wrist, I'm pretty sure she thinks she's hidden it from me. She's been more attached to him since they returned and I wondered if it wasn't a weird ritual that they tried to use to tie her to him."

Emily quickly shook her head in the negative, vampires lacked the magical strength to perform most rituals. Edward is a creature so he'd have a small core but if he was a muggle before being turned there was no possibility of him pulling off a ritual. "Unlikely, unless he has wizards for friends. And his bite wouldn't be enough to tie her to him, to be under a vampire's thrall you have to have eye contact with them."

"Not even a small connection of some kind?"

"No the only way for a vampire to tie someone to them is to turn them, the sire-childe bond isn't even very strong but as long as it isn't abused the childe will feel loyalty to his or her sire nothing more. But that's a non-issue as Bella is clearly still human. What I want to know is why, if you noticed a bite, didn't you say something to her?"

Charlie sighed leaning back in his chair, "I wanted to but even though she seemed so attached, I kept getting the feeling that he was starting to pull away. I was certain he was leaving."

"And yet he's still here…"

"He left for a while, well they all did, just after her birthday. It was bad, Em. I thought I was going to have to send her to Mungo's for a check. She was like a zombie when he was gone, months passed and it was like everything in her had given up. I tried to get a letter to you two but your letter was returned and all Harry wrote back was 'not safe, contact you when things change.'"

Emily wasn't sure how to respond to that, she had no doubt her silence for most of the past year had hurt the man but ultimately it was for both their safeties to stop all communication. One thing she did know was Bella's reaction didn't surprise her as much as it did her father. "Dad, Bella has always wanted to be part of my world and as far back as I can remember she always loved books with dramatic love stories. For the first time I bet she felt like she was in her very own fairytale, maybe she even thought he would change her."

"I get that, I do and I know I'm partially to blame for that because I decided to let her in on all this but her reaction is still a bit more drastic than I would expect…"

"Well what I don't get is why he came back."

"I don't know, she just took off one night and then three days later he shows up at my door with her asleep in his arms. I checked on her passport, she flew to Italy."

Emily gave Charlie a curious look, she wondered if her Dad knew who resided in Italy. It could be a complete coincidence but for Edward to suddenly return…

"Do you think he loves her?" Charlie looked as if it pained him to even ask the question.

Shaking her head Emily gave her father the answer that he probably both wanted yet resented, "He can't. It could be infatuation but vampires can't find a true mate in a human."

"If he turned her?"

"Whatever is drawing him to her would likely be gone."

Emily watched the defeated look on her father's face, he knew that his daughter was being set up for another fall and she could tell it pained him to know there might not be anything he could do to stop it.

"I could be wrong," Emily offered trying to give her father a little bit of positivity. "These vampires disregard their nature to live as if they were human. Who knows how long they've been doing this, what's a few decades to a man who can live thousands?"

"You and I both know how this ends…"

"Maybe," Emily shrugged. "If you are so worried maybe it's time you put a stop to it."

"Believe me I'm trying."

Laughing Emily stood and moved over to her father kissing him on the top of his head, "Well I'll leave you to do some plotting then, I need to sleep."

Emily waved her hand at the now crumpled blanket on the sofa and watched as it folded itself and settled in its usual spot. She headed towards the stairs, running her fingers over the runes on the wall dispelling the ward as she passed.

"Sleep well, Kiddo."

"You too, Dad."


	2. Chapter 2

When Emily got up the next morning she was surprised to find herself the only person awake in the house. Making her way downstairs the witch was sure to be as quiet as possible to allow her father more rest, something he certainly needed. She was tempted when passing Harry's room to look in but as her muggle sister was staying in it she figured she could sneak a peek later.

Once successfully in the kitchen, Emily settled in with a cup of coffee and a bowl of fruit to read her newest find. The tome though new to her was extremely old and written in Parseltoungue, a language it seemed she was the only remaining speaker of. Once upon a time Harry too had been able to speak the tongue of the snakes, as children the twins would often use their ability to tell each other secrets and plan pranks against their father and Uncle Remus but those days had long passed, not to mention her brother had lost his ability just a few weeks ago.

Sipping her coffee Emily enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning but it wasn't to last, the quiet atmosphere was disturbed by Bella tripping as she made her way down the stairs. Shaking her head the witch wondered if the muggle would ever learn to walk properly. She had to be clumsier than Nym, who at least could blame her inability to find balance on her metamorphmagus ability.

"Could you wear clothes?" Bella asked as a way of greeting the witch.

Looking up from her book Emily raised an eyebrow at the added company of Bella's vampire boyfriend who looked shocked to find her here. "It's a silk slip, not all of us want to look like a slob even if we are sleeping."

The muggle turned red as she examined her worn flannel pants and oversized shirt. She had never been one for fashion or beautiful nightwear but she had to admit Emily looked stunning in the blue silk slip that had black lace accenting it. Perhaps she should wear the fancy pajamas her mom had sent her shortly after finding out she had a boyfriend. Maybe it would distract Edward and he'd forget to pull away when they kissed…

Nodding as if reading her thoughts Emily turned her attention back to her book, "I'm sure your boyfriend would enjoy the upgrade to your wardrobe as he appears to have stayed the night."

"No, he…"

Emily simply waved her hand halting the girl's certain denial, "Well, I didn't hear him knock but to be honest, I really don't care."

Continuing her reading Emily did her best to ignore the room's two new occupants who sat down across from her at the table. She could feel the vampire push against her mental barriers a few times before giving up. Emily wondered if he was unable to read people often. Glancing away briefly from her book Emily recognized the familiar thin silver chain around Bella's wrist, if her father was still wearing his then perhaps it was just the Swan family that alluded his gift.

Emily couldn't help but wonder if it was the muggle's silence what was drawing him to her. Needing to refill her coffee cup Emily stood and used the moment to examine the pair. They were quite polar opposites. Edward was rather beautiful with his rare copper hair color and striking amber eyes. Though he was tall and lean, he still had a bit of a muscular build to him that made Emily think of a muggle swimmer. Bella on the other hand was perfectly average, from her brown hair and eyes to her 5'4" height. While he clearly dressed as if he were in a muggle fashion ad, Bella looked as if she couldn't be bothered if either sock matched and yet somehow they sat there with him unwilling to look away and her blushing as she took another bite of her cereal.

"Good morning," Charlie greeted the room, his smile fading as his eyes fell on Edward. "Little early for you to be here isn't it?"

"Good morning Charlie," Edward said politely ignoring the man's question.

Charlie grunted as he took the mug Emily offered him and reluctantly joined everyone at the table. "Any plans for your day?" Charlie asked Emily as he opened his newspaper holding it high enough so he wouldn't have to see the couple sitting across from them.

"No plans really, just read and enjoy the quiet house."

"Didn't get enough of that at the Manor before coming here?"

Emily sighed, "It was chaotic to say the least. What with the wedding coming up and the renovations."

"How's Draco feeling about all of that?"

Turning the page of her book Emily shrugged, "He's his usual self. He wanted to come for a few days but Cissa didn't think it was a good idea. Now is the best time for him to really learn the workings of the family business since it's a major part of the contract."

"Who is he betrothed to again?"

Emily noticed that Edward had turned not even hiding his curiosity as he listen to the father and daughter discussion. "Daphne, you've met her a few times."

"Andrew's heir?" At her nod Emily could see the wheels turning in her father's mind, "Weren't they always at each other's throat?"

"They are getting better, but they have their moments." Emily could see her father clearly didn't believe her, the last time he had visited before the witch's sixth year Draco and Daphne had a rather large argument in front of the man that may have ended with a few curses being thrown. "It's a really beneficial contract for both family businesses and Daphne will make a good Lady for the House."

"And what about you?"

Emily took a sip of her coffee as she went back over a rather interesting part of her book, "What about me?"

"Any contracts I should know about?"

Emily laughed as she shook her head, "Nothing worth you worrying about."

"But there are some?"

"Of course but nothing I'd even remotely consider." Emily knew she should be taking the contracts more seriously as most of the wizards and witches her age were already betrothed but nothing had stood out to her. There had only been two contracts she had ever seriously considered one of those men was now dead and the other had left her for another woman.

"Good," Charlie nodded flipping to the sports section. "I know it's unusual but you have time."

 _More than you can imagine_ , Emily added silently in her mind. Pulling herself away from her book for a moment she reached out and patted her father's arm offering him a smile. "It's not me you should be worried about anyway old man."

Charlie quickly dropped his paper and looked at his daughter, "What do you mean?"

Rising Emily took her now empty cup to the sink before returning to the table to retrieve her book. "You mean Harry hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?" Emily walked to the door shaking her head. "Young lady!"

"You really don't know?" the witch asked turning to look at her father. "I guess he'll tell you when he gets here I just thought…"

"Thought what?"

"It's no big deal," Emily waved the man's concern off though she was surprised Harry hadn't told their father his big news. Oh well, it certainly would make his arrival a bit more exciting. "I'm going to go take a shower. You shouldn't scrunch your head like that, you'll get more wrinkles."

"I do not…"

"Don't worry I'll put out an anti-wrinkle cream for you." Laughing at her father's glare Emily turned to leave the room and felt one last push against her mind. Feeling a bit cheeky she showed the vampire a brief image of a snake ready to strike before closing her mind off once again and running up the stairs.

Emily spent most of her morning reading and lounging about in her room. She figured she would need to get back into the habit of exercising soon especially since she had been slacking for the past few weeks but for the moment she couldn't be bothered.

She couldn't truly remember a time she had allowed herself to be lazy, her life had been utter chaos from the beginning. Born under prophecy, fighting on the divide, between boys and mad men… needless to say she earned a few days or weeks of rest.

Climbing off her bed Emily moved to the window and looked out into the forest lining her house. If she had better eyesight she would be able to see the little creek that ran not far from tree line, she couldn't count how many times she had snuck out just to sit and watch as the water flowed slowly past. As she continued to look outside she noticed a figure leaning against a tree staring right at her, the second he caught her eyes the man vanished back into the wood leaving Emily to smirk at his behavior. Pushing herself away from the window the witch decided she was in need of a snack.

Walking down the stairs she noticed Bella kicking off her shoes as her boyfriend closed the front door. "Playing hooky today are we?"

Bella looked at her sister as if she were crazy, "It's after three."

"Is it really?" Emily tilted her head in surprise, she hadn't realized how much time had passed.

Bella rolled her eyes as she held up her phone where the screen clearly displayed the time.

"So it is," Emily remarked turning away from the couple to head into the kitchen. Opening the fridge she noticed a box on the top shelf that sloppily read 'Mistress Emily'. She had no doubt Mipsy had somehow gotten her favorite foods to her, bless the house elves!

Pulling out the box to examine its contents Emily turned around at the clearing of a throat. Bella was standing there with Edward behind her leaning against the door frame. "Do you need something?"

"We're going up to my room, if Charlie gets here…" Emily raised an eyebrow at the girl. Why on earth would she think the witch would be willing to help her especially when she refused to call their father by anything but Charlie.

"If _Dad_ gets home, I suggest he jump out a window," Emily said nodding the vampire's direction.

Bella huffed crossing her arms as she gave Emily an annoyed look, "His car is outside, Charlie will know he's here anyway."

Shrugging Emily turned back to her box and continued sorting through the items. She grabbed the brie and a small baguette. Pulling out one of the apples she added it to her little pile, she knew there had to be a bottle of… "Ah ha!" Emily exclaimed pulling out the balsamic vinaigrette.

"Seriously," Bella deadpanned obviously not taking the hint.

"What?" Emily gave the muggle a confused look which only seemed to piss her off more.

"You are no help!" The muggle turned grabbing her boyfriend's arm who allowed her to lead him away.

Sighing happily at her once again restored peace Emily went back to preparing herself a little sandwich. Turning to the fridge she wondered if there was a little Dijon to add to the balsamic and some turkey to make the sandwich just right.

As Emily finished cleaning up her plate the kitchen was once again invaded by the muggle and her vampire. Apparently they decided they didn't want to risk Charlie coming home early and finding them upstairs. The pair sat at the kitchen table and started in on their homework as Emily excused herself to the living room.

Cautiously Emily grabbed the remote, remembering the few times she had accidentally ruined the device in the past. Magic and electricity were not friends, before Emily and Harry had better control of their abilities countless items had been damaged and Charlie had spent a pretty penny stocking up on batteries in the house.

Flipping through the channels she had a hard time finding something to watch. Every few minutes she'd change the channel in hopes of something better. When Charlie arrived an hour later the witch was still trying to find one channel to settle on, "Hey Kiddo, careful with that remote!"

Emily shot her father a look that clearly told him she was unamused, "I hate this thing."

"Then why are you watching it?" Though he laughed Emily could tell her father was nervous that in her frustration she might fry his remote as his eyes never left the controller.

"I don't know, I thought maybe it had gotten better since I was gone but some of these shows… I'll take my books any day." Turning off the TV Emily made a point of carefully putting the remote down on the coffee table before looking at her father. "Happy? It still works and you can watch your sport thing tonight."

"Sport thing? Have you learned nothing all these years, it's called baseball!"

Emily just gave her Dad an empty look, "Yeah, whatever it is, it's boring."

"Boring? Come on you said you enjoyed the game we went to in Seattle!"

Rolling her eyes she stood and walked over to kiss her father's cheek, "I love you Dad but the best part of that game was the food."

"Where did I go wrong?"

Bella chose that moment to walk in the room, "I started dinner."

Emily gave her father a pointed look as she tilted her head in her sister's direction. Charlie pretended not to notice and smiled at his other daughter. "Whatcha making Bells?"

"Grandma Swan's stroganoff, I thought you might like it since we had take out last night."

Charlie rubbed his stomach in anticipation, "That's my favorite."

Bella smiled seemingly happy she had done something right. Emily wondered why the muggle felt the need to butter up their dad hadn't she already gotten her way in going to Florida for the weekend?

It didn't take long before dinner was ready and Edward made an excuse to go sit in the living room instead of joining them. Once the nightly news could be heard drifting into the kitchen the three tucked into their meals, Emily far less vigorously than the other two, she had never really been a fan of the meal.

"How was work?" Emily asked her father breaking the silence in the room.

"Slow."

"So nothing new," Emily teased smiling as her father helped himself to a second serving.

"We had some animal attacks keeping us busy for a while but right now everything seems pretty quiet. Mark and I played a few hands of cards and I talked to Billy on the phone for a bit."

"How is he?" Bella asked looking up from her plate for the first time.

"Fine, he'd be better if he sucked it up and went to the hospital to let someone check on his joints."

"Billy Black?" Emily questioned getting a nod from her father. "Why won't he go to the hospital?"

Charlie cleared his throat as he looked to the door that led to the living room and Bella quickly ducked her head back down. That was all the answer Emily needed, her father had mentioned one of the vampires being a doctor. Having grown up as a child of a man who was often considered kin to the tribe Emily was well aware of their legends and obviously the tribe wasn't happy with the offered care at their local hospital anymore.

"It's stupid really," Charlie answered, for once he seemed to be on the vampires' side. "Though Billy did invite us all down for a playoff party this weekend, you and I could go and Bella maybe you could call and set up another time to visit."

"Charlie…"

"I know you'll do the right thing Bells," Charlie said cutting off his muggle daughter with a smile. Emily raised an eyebrow at her father's choice of words as he turned back to her. "So what do you say Em?"

"You're joking right?"

"What, we'll have some fun! You haven't seen the guys for a few years, it will be good for you all to catch up."

Emily sighed she knew how much her father loved the tribe but the witch had never gotten along with them. The last bonfire she had gone to had ended with her slapping Paul across the face before storming up to where her father was and demanding he take her home. "I think I'll stay home this time."

Charlie's face dropped as he looked back down at his meal, "Sure."

Emily felt slightly bad at dashing her Dad's hopes but going down to the reservation was not something she planned on doing while in Forks. So to try and make her Dad feel better Emily had offered to watch the game with him after they finished dinner which seemed to appease the man for the moment.

The game was rather boring but Emily tried to pay attention to her father who kept attempting to explain what was going on while Bella had vanished to Harry's room some time ago to finish her homework and Edward had headed home but something kept niggling in Emily's mind from dinner.

"What was up with your comment to Bella earlier?"

Charlie looked away from the TV puzzled, "Which one?"

"About doing the right thing…"

"Oh, I want her to go down to see Jake. His dad says he's been having a rough time."

Ah, she could see the man's angle now, "Isn't he a bit young for her?"

"Just two years," Charlie shrugged his attention back on the TV.

"Still…"

"He was there for her when the Cullens left, he got her to smile again. Even her nightmares went away on the nights they hung out. It was going really well until the night she vanished. When she came back with Edward the two got into a bit of a fight but I think they can work it out."

"Aren't you just pushing her from one creature to another?" Emily was sure her Dad wasn't thinking his plan all the way through.

"You mean that spirit wolf thing? They are just legends Kiddo, the boys down at the res aren't dangerous."

Emily looked at her father as if he had grown a second head, "Yes and so are unicorns and merpeople doesn't make them any less real."

"Come on Em, I'm sure I'd know by now if something was going on down at the res."

"Yes because I'm certain Billy would call you to say 'heads up our boys are shifting into wolves, don't shoot them please.'"

Charlie shrugged again, "You never know."

"Have you told them our secret?"

That caught Charlie's attention and he quickly turned to his daughter, "Of course not!"

"Then why would they tell you theirs? You've heard the legends more than I have, they include vampires, vampires who are obviously back in town."

"Come on Em, just because most legends are true doesn't mean this one has to be."

Deciding to drop the topic for now Emily leaned back into the sofa and shook her head. Clearly her father didn't want to believe what was right in front of him, if the tribe was boycotting the hospital then that meant they believed in the legends and sensing a threat due to the length of the Cullens stay their boys were shifting.

As they sat together now quietly, Emily started to drift off wondering how long a baseball game could really last? A loud noise woke the witch up who noticed Bella had banged her elbow against the railing as she attempted to put on her shoe.

"Is it okay if I go to Jake's?" she asked rubbing her injury before reaching hesitantly for her keys. "I know it's late but I won't be gone long."

Charlie smiled at his daughter, "Of course and don't worry about the time, stay as long as you like."

Emily watched as the girl darted out the door shouting a quick thank you. Standing up the witch moved to look out the window as the girl climbed into her truck, seconds later she was joined by another figure in the cab. The movement was so quick Emily had a good idea who it was. "Hey Dad, I need some fresh air."

"Sure, sure," the man waved absentmindedly, his eyes glued to the game.

Emily quietly made her way out the back door and around to the driveway. Leaning against the house slightly hidden by a bush she watched as her sister stared angrily at her boyfriend who seemed to be playing with something as he spoke.

A few minutes passed before Bella jumped out of the car apparently determined to get away from her boyfriend who quickly exited the cab as well. "I'll understand if you keep your window shut tonight." When Bella didn't answer the vampire inclined his head, "Your car will be fixed before school should you choose to drive yourself."

The muggle still refusing to speak turned and stomped her way back into the house and Emily watched as the vampire's shoulders slouched. She almost felt bad for him as she watched him look sadly at the spot where Bella had just stood. "Dismantling your girlfriend's car," Emily said pushing herself away from the house. "The daughter of the Police Chief no less, tsk tsk Edward."

The man seemed shocked at the witch's presence, "I.." he looked down at his hands which held a black object most likely from Bella's engine. "I mean…" he struggled to find words to deny what she was saying as the evidence rested in his hands, it was too late to hide it and he was clearly at a loss on how to explain.

Smiling at the vampire's misfortune Emily climbed up onto the hood of Bella's truck and looked up at the sky. "I don't care mind you, but I am curious as to why."

"She wants to go to the reservation," Edward said hesitantly, deciding to give the girl the partial truth.

Emily nodded her head as she took in the vampire who had changed from his earlier visit. She wondered if he had been hunting as his eyes appeared brighter than before. "That begs the question, how did you know?"

Emily felt another push against her shields and laughed out loud. "It's not polite to look in a lady's mind without permission Edward."

The vampire took a step away from her, his face morphed from shock to a blank stare so quickly she almost missed it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm sure you don't," Emily sighed looking back up at the stars. "Just answer me one question honestly and I promise to leave you be."

Edward looked at the witch hesitantly but gave a slight nod of agreement.

"Are there shifters down on the reservation?"

"I don't…"

Emily halted whatever excuse the man was trying to give her by holding up a finger, "I'm not interested in lies, a simple yes or no will do."

"Yes," came the man's reply through gritted teeth.

"Thank you," jumping down from Bella's truck a loud noise caught the pair's attention. Emily knew it was the sound of a window being slammed shut and once again she felt a touch bad for the now very confused man before her. "Bella's never really understood these kinds of things," she offered before she could think better of it.

"And you do…" he looked at her almost challengingly now.

Smirking Emily started to walk back up the driveway, "I told you Edward, it's not polite to pry."

Walking back into the house Emily found her father searching in the closet for something. Leaning against the wall she smiled at the man, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for my flashlight."

"Why?"

Sighing her father sat back frustrated at his inability to find his tool. "Bella said her truck won't start so I'm going to go have a look."

"Are you that desperate for her to go see this kid?" Emily shook her head, now having her thoughts confirmed that the wolves were indeed on the reservation it didn't take a great leap to guess Billy's son was one of them. Jake after all was the son of the Cheif, the witch wouldn't be surprised if he had been the first to shift.

Charlie glared at his daughter, "I'm not desperate."

"Uh huh," Emily waved her hands at the man. "Then why are you searching for a flashlight this late at night. You can look at the truck in the morning, it's old and rusted perhaps it's just temperamental."

"Fine," Charlie grunted as he stood himself back up. He seemed upset that his plans were not working out and much like his muggle daughter stomped off down the hall towards the stairs.

"Goodnight!" Emily called shaking her head at her father's behavior.

"Night."


	3. Chapter 3

The next few days passed by with little excitement. Bella had left for Florida taking her vampire boyfriend with her. How that was working out Emily could only guess, she didn't imagine Edward having much fun in a place where he would be trapped inside but that was his own problem. Charlie on the other hand was a tad sour over the whole thing, everything seemed to remind him that Bella was off with a boy and not the one he wanted for her.

Hearing a knock at her door Emily called for her father to come in.

"Hey, I'm heading down to the res. Last chance to join me," Charlie said poking his head into his daughter's room.

"You go ahead." Charlie nodded having expected the answer already. As he moved to close the door Emily called out to him, "Dad?"

"Yes," he looked hopefully back at the witch.

"Please be careful."

Sighing the man let the door swing open and leaned against the frame, "I told you there's nothing to worry about."

"I think there is," Emily said putting her book down on the bed. Her father only being a squib worried her, he couldn't protect himself like she could.

"I was just down there fishing last week and nothing happened."

"You don't understand shifters like I do. It's an unpredictable action, their bodies aren't made to withstand a magical core so the small bit of magic they have forces their body into these transformations. Their emotions rule them. Think about when Harry and I were little, when did we have the most accidents?"

"When you were upset," Charlie shrugged.

"Exactly, so if the shifter is happy they have more control, not complete control mind you, but they are less likely to transform. If they are upset they become even more unpredictable, the magic will take over forcing a transformation whether they want to or not."

"You haven't been down to the res, you're just making assumptions on old legends."

"Maybe I am but you are missing the signs," Emily didn't want to tell her father that she had gotten Edward to tell her about the wolves so she used the evidence she had gotten from his deputy when she had dropped by the station the other day for lunch. "Sightings of oversized wolves, large prints found close to hiking trails down by the beach, not to mention you had considered looking into steroid use by some of the tribal members for unnatural muscular changes."

"How did you know that?"

Emily smirked at her father, "Mark has always had a soft spot for me."

"Emily Rose," Charlie gave the witch a pointed look. "If you are that worried why don't you come with me and see for yourself."

While it was tempting to join her father to make sure he was safe, the thought of Paul getting too handsy after a few beers continued to replay in her mind. She was by no means the selfless twin and her desire to avoid the reservation won out. "Just keep your gun on you."

Nodding to appease her Charlie moved to grab the door knob and shut the door behind him, pausing he turned to look at his daughter one last time. "Em, not that I don't appreciate the lesson on shifters but do you think that maybe after everything you've been through you're just reading too much into things? You're in Forks now Kiddo, sure there are a few vampires but they're harmless. Just relax."

As the door shut Emily closed her eyes and leaned back against her headboard. _Relax_ , people had been telling her that for years and every time she did it, it seemed that was the moment the kneazle chose to be among the pixies.

Then again maybe her dad was right, this was Forks, even the vampires that lived here were oddly tame. Were the shifters dangerous, yes but it was highly unlikely that her father would be close to them if he was going to see Billy and the other elders. From what she had read the transformation only took place in the young and eventually once mated the ability seemed to fade out over a few years.

Opening her eyes Emily looked towards her window and was slightly shocked to see a familiar face sitting on a branch outside. Climbing off the bed Emily moved to open the window, "I was beginning to think you were happy just watching my house."

"I was waiting for Charlie to leave," the newcomer shrugged.

"For the last week?"

Ignoring the witch's comment the man jumped into the bedroom. Taking everything in he slowly turned till he was staring at the witch, "You look good."

"I wish I could say the same but your new disregard for your health is alarming."

Running a hand through his hair, Emily watched as he stood, still ever the soldier with his left arm behind his back and his feet apart. "It's not my preferred diet."

Scoffing the witch looked at him as if he were crazy, since when had this man done anything that he didn't prefer?

Jasper looked away from the witch's accusing stare, it was hard to be in the same room as the woman. She had been his first and likely last escape from his confinement in the Cullen coven. Since joining over 60 years ago the soldier had been forced to change his food source and live as if he was human, ever taunted by the scent of their blood but forbidden from tasting it.

The daily struggle to abstain from his cravings seemed worth it if he could be with Alice, but once the coven had moved to Forks Jasper had felt more like an outsider than ever. Even Alice chose to spend most of her free time with a simple human. The urge to be free, to not have to hide grew with every day the human became more entrenched in their life until finally one night he had snapped.

"It's complicated."

"I'm sure," Emily looked as if she couldn't be bothered to care but Jasper could feel her underlying curiosity and disgust. Most were revolted because they feared the monster within him but not Emily, her anger lay in the fact that he wasn't letting that monster free.

The silence stretched on as neither one seemed willing to break this odd standoff. It was a new experience for the pair who had been so close since September.

Emily held out as long as she could but her patience was nowhere near the vampire's. "What are you doing here Jasper?"

"I felt I should warn you…"

"Warn me?" Emily asked raising an eyebrow at the man. He was doing his best to appear detached but she could read the emotions warring inside of him. You didn't spend so much time with one person and not learn to see through their masks.

"A nomad vampire will be in the area tonight."

"So?"

"Alice is certain she won't but I worry she might try to hurt Charlie."

"Why would this nomad care about my father?" Emily watched as the vampire moved to the window, he was struggling to look at her.

"The Cullens destroyed her mate."

"So she is seeking revenge by killing my father?" Emily sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the vampire's back. Why on earth would a nomad care about Charlie unless… "What did Bella do?"

"It wasn't exactly her fault," Jasper conceded though he would love to blame all the current problems in the coven on the human. "She came to watch us play baseball…"

Emily rolled her eyes at that, what was it with everyone and this muggle game?

"A group of nomads heard us and came to investigate. It's not normal for a coven to hold a residence in one area for long."

"I know, a muggle residence goes against everything that rules your kind."

"You know there are others who have permanent settlings," the vampire countered.

Emily nodded slightly conceding his point, "But those settlings are usually behind magical barriers. A home base if you will, to return to after roaming for some time. Those vampires don't pretend to be something they are not to live amongst the muggles."

It was Jasper's turn to nod in acceptance. "True, but it doesn't matter for this story. The nomads came and found Bella with us, one of them, James turned out to be a tracker. He chose Bella as his next prey."

"Does this have something to do with her stint in the Phoenix hospital?"

"Yes," the vampire growled lowly upset as he recalled the memory. "Alice and I drove her down but she slipped away from us."

Emily started to laugh not bothering to look apologetic when Jasper glared at her. Did he truly expect her to believe that he allowed a mere human to slip through his fingers? No she knew him better than that, if he had wanted to stop Bella he could have. He let her leave, likely hoping she would meet her death. Despite the fact that the girl was her 'sister' Emily couldn't help but understand why the soldier would do it, he knew the consequences of a human's interaction with their kind.

"Would you like to try again?"

Jasper rolled his eyes as he felt Emily's emotions, of course the witch would see through him and not care that he had been willing to let her sister die. Being around the Cullens made him too cautious of being judged at times. "I let her slip away, I figured that if she had enough of a head start it would be too late by the time we got to the ballet studio, Alice had seen, to save her."

"Lovely another seer."

"She can't see you if it helps, sometimes she'll see a blur briefly but since she's never been a witch she can't actually see your future."

Emily was glad for it, she had enough predictions to last her an eternity. Making a hand gesture she urged Jasper to continue his tale.

"Luck wasn't with me and Alice nearly caught on that I had done it on purpose. You see the family is rather attached to Bella and they would have never been okay with me allowing her death. When we got to the studio I vigorously helped in killing James to alleviate any suspicions."

"So this nomad in Forks is James' mate?" It was the only conclusion Emily could come to if the vampire was truly a threat to her father.

"Yes, she's seeking revenge for his death. She wants to kill Bella for her part in James' death. A mate for a mate."

"You don't believe that."

"No, but Edward and the coven believe it. They have been living this lifestyle for so long that their true senses are dulled. Most of them have no idea what it's like to give in completely to their vampire, to be truly satisfied."

"You do, yet here I find you…"

Jasper knew she was pushing him to tell her more. A beeping filled the room and the vampire was quick to pull out his phone. "I better go, we're supposed to have a family meeting before tonight and Alice is worried I'm hunting too close to the treaty line."

"Treaty line?"

"The Cullens made a treaty with the Tribe when they first came to Forks, both stay on their side of the line to prevent a 'war'."

Emily could not believe the idiocy of the creatures but she decided to let it go for the moment in hopes of getting more information. "What do you know about the shifters?"

"I don't know their exact numbers, Bella is the only one close to them and from what I gather their alpha Sam is hesitant around her."

"Jacob isn't the Alpha?" That surprised Emily, from what she remembered Sam's father wasn't even currently apart of the tribe.

"No. To be honest, Edward has been doing his best to keep the two apart so our knowledge is limited."

"He's worried about her safety?"

"And jealous…"

"Is there a reason for him to be?"

Jasper shrugged, "She's protective of the wolves. She calls them her friends. From what I understand the dog has a crush on her, one at least in Edward's opinion she has yet to dissuade completely."

Emily shook her head at this information, what on earth had Bella gotten herself tangled into. Another beep echoed in the room.

"I really should go, Alice can't see the wolves. That's her probably worried about me getting into a fight."

The witch scoffed at the idea, she had seen this man in battle, a few shifters were no match for him.

"I know but I better go, I need a quick hunt anyway."

"Grab a decent meal, you look starved."

Jasper shook his head wishing he could but he figured it would be a few years before he got a proper meal and could claim he had 'slipped' again, "Red eyes violate the treaty."

"Pity." The two stood staring at each other neither really knowing how to say goodbye. The last time they had parted the vampire had kissed her head before vanishing as she slept.

Deciding he couldn't wait any longer Jasper waved awkwardly to the witch before jumping out the window and disappearing into the woods.

Sighing Emily watched the man leave. It seemed the muggle in the family had created quite the mess. Wolves, vampires, mates out for revenge… _yeah Dad I'll just relax._ Pushing herself up she figured she better get started on a few wards before her Dad got home.

Coming in from the backyard Emily was slightly tired from the amount of energy she had spent on setting up a ward stone. Her father had never wanted one but she figured what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. Making her way up the stairs Emily hesitantly stopped outside of her father's room. While the house wards couldn't be very specific due to the nature of Charlie's job, his room was a different story.

Being as subtle as possible so her father wouldn't realize what she had done Emily carved small runes into the door and window frames of the room. The wards were set to keep out everyone except those blood keyed to the room. She had taken some blood from Charlie a few years back under the pretense of doing a family tree project, it had been kept in stasis ever since in her trunk. Sometimes her paranoia came in handy.

Emily exited the room just in time because as she reached for her own door handle Charlie was climbing the stairs.

"Hey Kiddo."

"Hey Dad, have a good time?" She looked him over making sure he was still in one piece. The man was stubborn and would likely hide it if anything had happened.

Nodding the police chief yawned, "Just a little tired now though."

"You old men shouldn't party so hard, you aren't as young as you used to be."

"Ha ha, you know the boys were around for a while. Paul was asking about you." Emily raised an eyebrow at her dad. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be impressed but…" the man shrugged.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Emily could see her father was starting to lean on the wall. A few drinks plus all the excitement of whatever game they were watching had taken it out of him.

"Sure, sure." He pushed himself up and moved to open his door before pausing. Emily hesitated hoping he couldn't see the small carving under the handle. She had to put one there to tie her work on the door together. "You know, there was something odd tonight. The boys were all with us for a bit enjoying the game and eating all the food, then all of a sudden they got serious and took off in a hurry. I swore a few of them were trembling and I thought I heard a growl or two… maybe it was all in my head."

Emily shrugged clearly her father had a few too many beers if he was admitting something strange happening on the reservation. "Get some sleep Dad."

"Will do, night Kiddo."

"Night Dad."

By the time Bella and Edward arrived home the next day, Emily was actually glad to see the muggle. Her father had been a ball of anxiousness all day. She understood his worry since every time the girl had left Forks since moving in with Charlie she hadn't exactly returned in the best condition. Thinking on it she probably should have given the man a calming draught but it was too late now.

Walking down the stairs with her book in her hand Emily passed her father embracing Bella. "I missed you Bells, did you two have fun?"

Edward inclined his head, "Renee was very welcoming."

"Good, good." Coughing Charlie looked from Edward to Bella. "You should probably call Jake before you get settled."

"Why?" the girl looked hesitantly at her boyfriend who stood far too still at the announcement.

"He's called a few times."

Emily scoffed drawing the attention of the others, "Try every twenty minutes. Someone just had to tell the mutt you left town."

The witch ignored the pointed glare her father shot her and continued reading her book. She didn't care if the kid came off as desperate, as if having to deal with her father hadn't been enough the phone calls were driving her nuts.

As if on cue the phone began to ring. Walking over to the handset that had been left on the coffee table after Jake's last check in, Charlie answered the call. After a few quick greetings the man held out the phone, "It's for you."

"I'll get it in the kitchen," Bella answered quickly walking off.

As she disappeared Charlie smirked at Edward and put the handset down. The vampire took an unneeded breath and followed after Bella.

Emily kicked her father's leg without looking up from her book, the man was acting like a child.

"What can't he handle a little competition?"

Shaking her head Emily didn't even try to answer, for her part she still couldn't figure out why the creatures were drawn to Bella let alone competing for her.

Charlie sat down in his favorite chair and turned on the TV his head turning back to the kitchen every few seconds. "Hey Em, why don't you get dinner started?"

"I'm not spying for you," Emily said looking up from her book.

"I don't expect you to," though the man's face fell at her announcement.

Closing her book Emily made her way into the kitchen passing Edward who now had Bella wrapped in his arms. Clearly the girl didn't see the witch as she mumbled to her boyfriend, "He's checking to see if I'm still human."

"Positively muggle in my opinion," Emily added under breath drawing a worried look from the vampire. Seeing the bag of frozen burgers on the counter Emily looked at the pair. "You can't really have planned to cook these?"

Bella who finally noticed their audience pulled away from Edward and cleared her throat. "What's wrong with them?"

Ignoring the comment Emily opened the fridge and pulled out her box of food. Somehow Mipsy, may the gods bless her, was continuing to fill it. Finding what she was looking for Emily pulled out the ground lamb and smiled.

"What's that?"

"Ground lamb. We can have some fresh Greek burgers or would you prefer meatballs?" When her sister didn't answer she shrugged. "Let's stick with burgers, this will be far better than those freezer burned patties you wanted to cook. Morgana, how long have these things been in there?" Emily knocked the bag of burgers on the counter a few times before tossing them away.

Edward looked curiously at the witch, "You found ground lamb at Forks Grocers?"

"Sure," laughing Emily turned and began to get out a few more ingredients.

"What's so funny?" Charlie asked his curiosity having obviously won out.

"Just making dinner, Dad." And with that the group settled in watching Emily as she prepared the meal.

The next day passed rather slowly for Emily, that was until the principal had called the house to inform Charlie about a rough looking kid who had caused a disturbance at the school that morning and seemed to know Bella. Turns out Jacob Black made an appearance at Bella's school and had frightened some of the students.

Charlie was a tad embarrassed by the call especially when he had to promise to call Jacob and warn him to stay away from Forks High School. A task Emily made sure he accomplished if only for her own amusement.

The rest of the week however was rather uneventful. Emily hiked a few of her favorite trails, brewed some potions and often could be found reading the days away. Bella on the other hand had spent the majority of her time hiding away at the Cullen's home much to Charlie's chagrin.

Emily hadn't heard from Jasper again except for a short note left on her windowsill:

 _Didn't catch her. Wolves got in the way. We assume she has a gift of evasion._

 _-Jazz_

Short and to the point. That was Jasper though and perhaps it was for the best. From what she understood Jasper was mated to the psychic vampire, she wondered if the girl even had the slightest idea what the man had been up to the past year.

By Saturday Emily decided she could no longer put off the correspondence that had been arriving. Though she was in Forks she still had duties and friends back in England. Emily had taken on the Heiress duties for the Ancient and Noble House of Black while Harry had taken on the duties of Heir for the Ancient House of Potter. Her brother hadn't been too keen on the role but eventually he had been convinced, or coerced, however you looked at it at least he was doing it.

It seemed that despite asking for some peace, life in England didn't halt. There was Kingsley who had written asking for advice on a new proposal that was expected to go to the Wizengamot, he also reminded her to send her votes on several topics that were currently being debated so that Draco who was currently standing in for her could make sure her House votes weren't lost. Gringotts sent her an update on her current investments and betrothal offers.

Then there were her friends, Nym wanted advice and to fill her in on everything she was missing. She even included some of the clippings from various magazines that she was in before vanishing off to Forks and the wild conclusions they were now drawing at her absence. The twin Dare Devils had sent her an update on a new product they were launching as well as some of her favorite Sugar Quills. Finally there was Draco who as usual lost all formality with his best friend and complained about all the things he wasn't allowed to say to anyone else about the frustrations of his life and betrothal.

When she finally pushed the last piece of parchment aside Emily noticed it was dark. At some point Charlie had brought her up a salad for dinner and the plate lay discarded on the edge of her desk. Scooting her chair backwards Emily moved to the window to find an interesting sight, a tree was falling not far from the house.

Deciding to go investigate Emily wrapped herself in her silk robe and headed as quietly as she could outside. The witch was slightly surprised to find an angry vampire doing his best to destroy the tree he had already uprooted from the ground.

"Bad night?"

The man froze looking toward the woman horrified, Emily could see the conflicting emotions warring in him. He suddenly dropped into a crouch his face sneering at her as if he was preparing to attack which only made the witch laugh. The vampire growled in warning.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" the witch challenged.

In an instant he leapt towards her and collided with a clear shield tossing him back a few yards. The man stood clearly shaken from what had just happened.

"What are you?" he spoke hesitantly.

Emily started to move towards the vampire, "Does it matter?"

The man didn't reply as Emily approached his spot in the forest. So many thoughts were running through his head. Since Bella's sister had arrived there was something different about her. Though Bella claimed she was a year younger than her it seemed as if Emily was decades older. He had asked his girlfriend countless times about the mysterious girl but Bella would always change the topic. There was also her knowledge of the wolves, never mind that she knew not only when he tried to read her mind but that it was him doing it. But at the end of the day did it really matter what she was or what she knew? His answer both surprised and confused him.

"What was so upsetting you had to knock over a tree so close to the house?" Emily asked before Edward could answer her previous question.

The man shrugged still watching her cautiously.

"Come now, something had to of upset you. My father could have heard you and come out to investigate. You seem far too uptight to overlook a detail like that."

Looking into the woman's eyes he saw only curiosity. Something inside of him seemed to shift and he knew he could trust her. Before he could stop himself he started to open up, "Bella spent most of her day on the reservation."

"I thought she was working."

"So did I until I received a call from my sister."

"The seer?"

Edward gave the girl an odd look but nodded his head. "I confronted Bella."

"I'm sure she was pleased."

"She has taken the stance that she is Switzerland. Apparently I have a tendency to overreact and this falls into that category."

Emily sighed as she leaned against one of the many trees that surrounded the pair, "Bella doesn't see danger. She sees the fantasy of the reality in which she lives."

Edward nodded, Bella always saw the good and chose to ignore the bad.

"She's human, a human that for her entire life has known there was a fantastical world out there. A world she was not allowed to be a part of."

"Her whole life?"

"Since she was young."

"She doesn't like you."

Emily smiled at his abrupt change of topic, "The feeling is mutual."

"Why?"

"I'm not fond of muggles, especially ones who ignore their own gifts and envy other's." The vampire was quiet but he didn't look away from Emily.

"What is it about her?" When Edward didn't answer right away the witch elaborated. "Why are you with a human?"

"She's different."

"But she's human, what can you expect to get out of a relationship with her?"

"Why should her humanity stop us?"

"Do you really know so little about your own kind?" Edward looked puzzled at Emily's words. Deciding she would get no further tonight she pushed herself from the tree and walked up to the vampire, when he didn't move away she leaned up to kiss his cheek. He looked stunned at her bold action and Emily smirked as she turned to leave.

"Have a good night Edward."

The vampire watched the girl slowly vanish from the woods, he swore she turned into smoke before fully escaping the trees an echoing laugh left in her place.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few days Emily noticed that her sister's relationship seemed strained. The human hadn't noticed as she smiled and cuddled into her boyfriend's side but Emily could see the vampire wasn't pleased. He no longer watched Bella as he had before and every time the phone rang he would tense. Even Charlie didn't mind Edward's presence having noticed his more stoic nature.

"Any day now," Charlie mumbled taking a sip from mug. He was working an evening shift which meant caffeine would be his best friend for the night.

Emily shook her head at her father, "Isn't she staying with them tonight?"

"Just the girls, Esme said the boys were going 'camping'."

"Do they really need a few days to catch an animal?"

Charlie shrugged, "They go on these trips a lot. Maybe it's a bonding thing or something."

"Seems odd."

"I don't think it will matter much longer."

"You are so certain." Emily on the other hand wasn't, she knew the vampire was struggling but not with his attachment to Bella but with the human's attachment to the shifters, especially Jacob Black.

"Billy says Jake and Bella had a really good time the other day. He even saw them holding hands as they walked down the beach."

"He was spying on them?"

"No, he just happened to be outside and saw them."

"I'm sure," Emily passed her father the meal she prepared for him to take and leaned back against the counter. "You two gossip like a bunch of old hags."

"We just want what's best for them. You can't say you haven't seen how _he's_ been acting."

"Dad, I think there is more going on than you realize…"

"Don't start in on the Shifter thing again."

"I'm not but perhaps it's better not to count your owls before they're delivered."

Charlie raised his hands up, "I'm not doing anything."

"You're a liar," Emily said crossing her arms. "You bring up Jacob constantly, did you ever think you are the reason Edward has been acting so uncomfortable?"

"I…" Charlie looked a bit sheepish as Emily called him out on his behavior. He may have asked Bella a few times about when she was going back to La Push while Edward was around or for updates on the kid even though he talked to Billy daily. "I better head to work."

Emily wanted to laugh at her father. Charlie hated conflict but even more he hated being caught, which happened more than the man would have liked as he certainly wasn't very sly in the witch's opinion. "Okay Dad, have a good night."

Charlie set his empty mug in the sink then moved to give his daughter a brief hug. "Will do, Kiddo."

"Tell Mark hi from me," Emily called after the man as he left the house shaking his head.

Making her way up to her room Emily was shocked to find a vampire pacing quickly in front of her fireplace. He didn't seem to take notice of her as she sat herself on the bed and watched him.

"You're going to wear a hole into my floor."

The man slowed down his speed but continued pacing, "Nothing you can't fix."

 _Fair enough_ Emily thought, "How did you get in here?"

"Bella's window, it's never locked."

Emily would have to look into that, she had expected Harry would have put up a few wards on the room over the years or at least kept a good lock on his window after what happened the summer before their fifth year. Her room for instance had silencing, temperature and muggle repelling wards, while her window was always magically locked. Charlie had just enough magic in him not to be affected but it certainly kept Bella out which was the point.

The vampire continued to pace and Emily could tell he was extremely upset. His eyes darted around the room checking all the exits, his hand were clasped behind his back and a low growl came from his chest. Knowing him he wasn't likely to calm down for some time unless she did something to distract his mind.

In an instant Jasper was struck by a stinging hex. The vampire froze turning his sole attention on the witch. Emily smiled at the man as he snarled in reply, his vampire was taking over. Waving her hand she sent just enough force as to slightly push him back a few steps. His eyes went black as he leapt for the witch, with a soft pop Emily was standing in the spot he had just left.

She sent another spell at the vampire who quickly dodged it. Within a second Emily found herself up against the wall, Jasper's teeth taunting the skin of her neck. Pushing out with her magic she banished the man back towards the window. The wall cracked with the impact and the witch smiled in challenge, Jasper wouldn't get her that easily.

Back and forth the two fought until finally Emily hit Jasper with a bone breaking curse, while it wouldn't actually harm the vampire it would sting more than the other spells she had been using. With a loud roar Jasper flew at Emily pinning her onto the bed.

She felt his teeth graze her skin before his lips pressed against her neck. Pushing herself up into him Emily grabbed the end of his shirt pulling it up. Once removed the vampire leaned back in capturing her lips in a searing kiss. It wasn't long before the pair found themselves completely bare to the other. Arching her back as the vampire moved down her body Emily's fingers entwined themselves into his shoulder length waves.

Moaning at his actions Emily couldn't stop her body's response. With every nip and kiss it felt like her nerve endings were being set on fire. In the back of her head she knew this was wrong but since when had such things ever stopped the pair before. Calling out she pulled the vampire back up her body needing to feel him within her.

Jasper's grip was harsh but it set Emily off. Every thrust, every kiss, he seemed to grip her tighter to him. They fed off each other's emotions, climbing higher every minute until just before being pushed over the edge Jasper would pull back letting them build back up again. Finally when Emily couldn't take it any longer she begged for the vampire to give her release.

His teeth grazed her neck and without a second thought Jasper bit down. The two tumbled over the edge with the short few pulls of blood. Emily's magic pulsed at the release and Jasper collapsed on top of her, both breathing heavily they slowly began to collect themselves. Emily's fingers ran through the man's hair as he nuzzled into her neck.

Eventually Jasper rolled off the witch and the two lay staring at the ceiling above them before both of them began to laugh.

"I think we destroyed your room Darlin'."

Shrugging Emily echoed Jasper's earlier statement, "Nothing I can't fix."

Emily turned her head and looked at the vampire lying next to her. His eyes were now a bright red, a few pulls of blood mixed with her magic had satisfied his hunger. Her eyes appreciatively traveled down the rest of his muscular body taking in all his scars.

"What?" he asked with a smirk, Jasper could feel the witch watching him and the approval radiating from her. It was a far better feeling then her disgust.

"You look healthier, red eyes suit you."

"I'll have to stay here while it wears off."

Pushing herself up on her arm Emily raised an eyebrow at the man, "Won't your mate worry?"

"She's a little caught up with the human and Edward's issues to care right now."

"Is that why you came here?"

"I guess." Jasper sighed as he ran his hands over his face, "I try so hard for her, I gave up everything I am to make her happy and yet it doesn't seem enough. I offered to stay while the others went hunting, I'm so sick of having to gorge myself on animals that I didn't need another big hunt. She told me not to be silly that she was having a 'slumber party' with Bella."

Emily nodded in understanding, she felt slightly bad for the vampire. To be mated to someone so different from you would be a nightmare, you'd always want to escape but at the same time be pulled right back in.

"That human is everywhere I go. Her scent covers the house, the one place I could relax is gone and _my mate_ couldn't care less."

"Do you disappear often?"

Jasper shrugged one of his arms still rested over his eyes, "I go to Peter's for a month or so at a time, but nothing like this last year."

"Really?"

"You know more about my kind than I do," he said looking over at the witch. "The pull starts to become unbearable. The night I left it wasn't because I wanted to it was because I no longer had a choice."

Laying back down Emily stared back up at the ceiling thinking over the past year. It had been terrifying and thrilling in so many ways but the one thing that had centered her was Jasper. His ability to read emotions served them both well.

When she had woken the night after her final victory to an empty bed it had hurt but if she was honest she had seen it coming. The man who had come so ready for battle, who never left her side had started to quiet. He stepped back in those last few weeks allowing her to constantly lead. The random times she had caught him rubbing his chest now made sense. The pull had been drawing him away and while they found comfort in each other both had known it wasn't permanent.

Feeling her mood shift, Jasper reached out and pulled Emily into his chest. While it would never be enough he did love the witch and he would take what he could before she had her turn to vanish on him.

It wasn't long before Jasper felt Emily's breathing even out as she fell asleep. It amazed him that she still needed sleep, after all she had accomplished there was still a human element to her. The legends and tales the pair had read explained to some extent what would happen to her but he guessed the next few years would be really telling.

As the sun started to set Jasper heard footsteps on the stairs. Closing his eyes he pretended to sleep as he heard the door to Emily's room open.

A low whistle came from the Police Chief's mouth as he took in the room. What on earth had Emily done? Looking to the broken bed he found his daughter snuggled into the cold frame of a vampire under her torn duvet, well that explained the feathers everywhere. Shaking his head Charlie turned and made his way back to his own bedroom. Once ready to get a little rest the man reached out to set his alarm clock only to notice the blinking numbers. Sighing he quickly set about fixing the problem before promising himself his magical daughter and he would be having a talk later that day.

Charlie was surprised when he entered the kitchen later that day to find Jasper still with his daughter. Emily for her part was eating her lunch while the vampire absentmindedly played with her hair and read a book.

"Morning," Charlie greeted the pair trying to act as if this was a normal sight. Emily waved at her Dad leaning over to look at something Jasper had pointed out to her but Charlie got a shock when the vampire turned to nod hello, his eyes were red. Swallowing his reaction the Police Chief turned to make himself a cup of coffee and noticed the clock on the machine was broken.

"You could have set the clocks," the man grumbled pressing the start button on the machine.

"What?" Emily turned to look at her father who looked less than pleased.

"You wouldn't happen to know why all the clocks need to be reset would you?"

Emily looked over at the oven and then to the microwave taking in the flashing times, shrugging she turned back to her food, "Power surge."

"Uh huh," realizing his daughter was distracted Charlie shook his head as he filled his mug. Taking a sip of his coffee he made to leave the room, "You know if you're going to be having power surges you could at least fix my appliances. Some of us like to know what time it is."

Emily laughed as her father left the room to no doubt make sure she hadn't hurt his precious TV.

"Does he know?"

"What you are?" At Jasper's nod Emily smirked, "Of course he does."

"Why never let on then? The family spends so much time trying to fool him, even Bella plays along."

"He couldn't very well say he knew without telling them our family secret," Emily said waving her hand to send her dish to the sink. "Plus we aren't sure if Bella is aware he knows or not. She only knows that the magical world exists there was never a need to tell her more. She could assume he knows very little about it too."

"How much does he know?"

"Enough to understand that this won't end well for her."

"You know Edward asked me an odd question the other night." Emily raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "He asked about mating and if I had known vampires to mate with humans."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him the truth," the vampire closed the book he was reading but continued to play with the witch's hair. "It's possible to have sex with them but I'd never known one of our kind to mate with one."

Emily made to speak but a ringing sound interrupted the pair. Jasper pulled out his phone and looked slightly resigned as he answered and put the phone on speaker.

"Shouldn't you be at school?"

"She's gone Jazz! He's going to kill me!" a light tinkling yet panicked voice came through the phone.

"What do you mean Alice, is Bella dead?"

"No."

"Is she in danger?"

"I don't think so..."

"Then why are you worried, go back to class."

"Jasper! Everyone is talking about how Bella ran out of English and jumped onto the back of that werewolf's bike."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know!"

"Just calm down, Edward won't kill you. I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"You are no help, I'm blaming you if he takes my Porsche back!"

The line went dead and Jasper sighed banging his head lightly on the table a few times. "Your sister is more trouble than she's worth."

Laughing Emily began to use her fingers to message the vampire's scalp. "I'm not sure little Forks will survive her stay at this rate. She even has the big bad Major all worn out."

"She's going to start a war between the coven and shifters if she isn't careful, Edward has come close to crossing the treaty line several times already."

"I think a war is a bit exaggerated."

Shaking his head Jasper moaned as Emily pushed a little magic into her fingertips, "You give the Cullens too much credit, only Edward has given into his instincts but even that only lasted a few years."

"How sad…"

"I know."

"Come on," Emily said standing up and urging the vampire to join her. "I think I know something that will make you feel better."

In an instant the vampire had the girl in his arms laughing as he ran to her room. "No biting this time, Charlie will kill me if I have another 'power surge' that breaks his TV."

"Whatever you want Darlin'."

Stretching as she woke up Emily was aware she was once again alone. Patting the bed beside her she found a note on the pillow.

 _Out hunting rabbits to dull the eyes. Alice texted saying the guys came back early, so I need to at least try. I'll probably be back tonight, this time I promise not to bite._

 _-J_

Laughing as she touched the now healing scar on her neck Emily recalled his inability to resist taking another pull of her blood. The vampire would be hiding out in her room for weeks if he kept that up.

Deciding she wanted to get ready for her day, Emily slipped out of bed and moved to take a shower. Once dressed the witch made her way to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. If Mipsy were here she would have already had a cup before hopping in the shower, she really did miss her favorite house elf.

Turning on the coffee machine Emily noticed there was a note attached to it.

 _Ran to pick up a new TV. If you are going to keep having these surges maybe you could ward your room better. Batteries are easy but I don't have the space for backup TVs._

Taking a sip of her coffee Emily poked her head into the living room. The TV looked fine but when she attempted to press the power button on the remote nothing happened. Putting down the controller Emily decided she would need a better outlet for her magic. Being in Forks she couldn't be as free about using it so it had started to build up inside of her. With Jasper she had been unable to stop herself from releasing some of that magic out, which helped her immensely but wasn't working out so well for the muggle electronics.

The front door opened and Emily was greeted to Bella yelling, "Charlie I'm home."

"He's not here," Emily said walking past the girl to head upstairs.

"Where is he?"

"In town getting a new TV."

"Oh, will he be home soon?"

Emily gave the girl an odd look before turning her back on her and walking up the stairs, it was too early to be chatty with the human.

Making it to her room, Emily's peace was short lived. A knock came at the door before her father stuck his head in the room obviously back from town.

"Hey by chance did you grab some of Bella's clothes to do laundry?"

Not looking up from her book the girl shook her head, "Why would I do that?"

"Thought so. Some of her clothes are missing."

"Odd," was all Emily gave in reply as she continued her reading.

The Police Chief looked around the room and noticed an absence of a certain vampire, "No more Jasper."

"He's out hunting."

"Humans…" Charlie asked hesitantly, the red eyes flashing in his mind again.

"Animals."

"Oh, well good." Charlie went to close the door but stopped as he asked the question he had been curious about since finding the pair in his daughter's bed. "Isn't he mated to Alice?"

"He is."

"Then…" Charlie hesitated, looking at his uninterested daughter, it was probably better to let the topic drop until they were truly alone. "I'll be downstairs setting up the new TV."

"Sounds good."

Shutting the door Charlie sighed as he heard the doorbell ring. "Bella, door!" There was only one person who that could be, Edward was back.

Emily's peace returned and she was able to get through her whole chapter before there was a knock at her window. Waving her hand the latch unlocked and Jasper jumped in. She expected the man to come and sit by her but when he didn't she looked up to find him standing far too still.

"What's wrong?"

"Someone's been here?"

Emily sent out a wave of confusion to the empath.

"A vampire, not a scent I recognize."

Closing her book Emily moved to stand next to the man. "What do you mean, I've been here all day. The wards should have told me if someone wishing harm entered the property."

"Unless they didn't mean harm, they came to scout."

"Who would do that?"

"I have a few ideas."

Jasper's phone chose that moment to go off and Emily motioned for him to answer it.

"Hello."

"I just talked to Alice," Edward's voice filled the room. "I caught a scent at Bella's, someone has been in her room."

Emily turned to look at the door to her room. How had someone gotten that far without her knowing?

"I'm aware."

"I thought you might be, I caught your scent in the house as well," there was an accusation in the younger vampire's voice.

"I was visiting an old friend," Jasper smirked he really enjoyed getting under the other's skin. "Why are you calling Edward?"

"Emmett is on his way, I need you to help him since you're a better tracker."

Jasper looked worriedly at the standing mirror Emily had in the room. His eyes while having dulled still had a tint of red to them, his brother would know instantly that he had broken his 'diet'.

"It's done call Emmett back. The trail ends south of us at a random road, they obviously had a car waiting."

"Jasper what…"

"I have to go." Clicking a button the vampire ended the call and tossed his phone on the bed.

"How did this happen? I was here." The witch had moved to the door, opening it she made her way down the hall to Harry's room with Jasper right behind her.

"Maybe they have one of those handy cloaks."

"You don't think…"

"No." He cut Emily off knowing where her thoughts were going. "While the family probably won't agree with me, I'm certain it's either the Volturi or Victoria."

Emily looked back at Jasper as the pair stepped into the bedroom. Looking around Emily noticed not much had changed. The walls were still beige and the bedding was still that godawful Gryffindor red. All of Harry's school banners had been removed though, for Bella having lived in the room for so long she hadn't put anything up to replace the now bare walls. "Care to elaborate?"

"The Volturi have demanded Bella be changed. It could be them checking to make sure we have followed through."

Shaking her head Emily sighed, she had hoped Bella's little trip to Italy had been a coincidence but it seemed she was going to have to deal with that little matter soon. Bella could not be turned, she had no doubt this verdict was more for the twisted amusement of the kings than a true worry over secrecy. The kings knew just as well as she did that the girl would be abandoned or killed by Edward once bitten. "And the Victoria theory?"

"She has at least one newborn with her in Seattle. I'm sure you've heard about the killings there, I think it's her plotting her revenge."

Emily ran her fingers along the edges of the window frame, "Why don't you go to Seattle and end her?"

"I could but without knowing the true number of newborns and…"

"You are still hoping she comes and kills Bella," Emily finished for him. "Well, there are absolutely no wards in this room. Why did Harry have to slack off so much in school?"

"Are you going to add some?"

"Does Edward stay here at night?" Jasper nodded. "Then no."

"Why not?"

"If the person is a vampire I would have to use a ward that stops their ability to enter, as you don't actually bleed I have no way to key one of your kind into the ward to allow you access. Edward would be stuck outside the room."

"So?"

"I wouldn't mind but it's a fight I'd like to avoid," Emily answered as she walked around the room looking at everything Bella had laying out. Mostly it was her schoolwork but there were a few romance novels. The one picture she had in the room was a photo of Edward, it looked as if she had sloppily cut someone out of it.

"That was at Bella's birthday party," Jasper said noticing what Emily was looking at. Despite what his family thought he felt no remorse over his actions that night, his only regret was that it hadn't led to a permanent separation between the human and the family. "She cut herself out though."

"She's quite obsessed with him."

"And he with her."

Both added the implied _for now_ in their heads.

The next morning Jasper took off to hunt more animals in an attempt to dull his eyes, he warned Emily that Edward was in the house and that Charlie had left to go fishing a few hours earlier. The witch took her time heading down to the kitchen hoping to miss the odd couple but as luck would have it when Emily entered the kitchen it was to find a different creature with her sister.

Jacob Black was standing in the center of the room with a bloody knife and hand while Bella tried to shove a towel at him. The human looked like she was on the verge of passing out, she kept glancing at the shifter only to quickly look away.

"Trying to kill the mutt?" Emily asked as she passed the boy and headed to the fridge. Jacob looking worried finally took the towel Bella was offering and covered his hand pretending to apply pressure. Emily smirked as she grabbed all the things she needed for a fruit smoothie and set to work making it.

"He just accidentally cut himself. I was washing the dishes and he was drying, I handed him the knife and he grabbed the wrong end." Bella looked desperately at Emily, the girl clearly thought she could hide what this creature was from the witch.

"I hardly care," Emily said looking from the girl to the shifter before returning to her task.

"Jake, let me take you to the hospital," Bella pleaded softly her eyes flashing in the direction of her magical sister.

Jacob pushed her off, "I'm fine it's just a graze."

"Let me see it," the human demanded only to get a laugh from the boy.

"I promise I don't need a doctor."

"I say otherwise, let me see it."

"I don't think you should Bells, you look like you might pass out."

"He's not wrong," Emily added as she took a sip of her smoothie. "You look rather pale. You both also might want to do something about all the blood."

The pair seemed to jump at the reminder and Bella immediately stopped yanking on Jacob's arm as she moved to grab a towel to clean up the mess.

Deciding she rather not be in the house Emily made her way outside to enjoy her drink. She probably looked silly walking around the edge of the forest in a long silk robe and a set of heeled booties but her clothing was limited as many of her wizarding cloaks would look even more out of place in the modern muggle world.

As she walked she came upon a vampire sitting against a tree. "Fancy finding you out here." The man's eyes looked back towards the house before turning to the witch with a shrug. "Ah, neither can be in the house while the enemy visits."

"It's easier this way."

"Afraid you could be taken down by a single shifter?"

Edward rolled his eyes at the girl, "More afraid I'd take him down."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Emily asked tilting her head as she observed the vampire. He was as always dressed impeccably, wearing a shawl neck sweater and jeans.

"To Bella."

Emily nodded her head and started to walk past the spot where the vampire was sitting when a ray of rare sunlight shown through the trees. In a second the vampire was standing next to her. "Someone bit you," he growled out.

Emily gave the vampire an odd look, "So?"

"How are you not…" his fingers reached up pulling the robe back to expose the skin on her neck better. "Who did this?"

She could hear the anger in his voice and it shocked her in a way, why should he care why she had a bite mark. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," his fingers lightly grazed over the freshly scarring skin sending a light shiver down her spine. "Who hurt you?"

"No one hurt me," Emily laughed. "I rather enjoyed it."

The vampire looked at her as if she had lost her mind which only brought on more laughter for the witch. Reaching up she stroked the man's concerned face. "You really do know so little about your own kind."

Tracing Edward's lips with her thumb her eyes locked with his. Leaning up to him she pressed her lips to his. An electric shock seemed to pass through the pair but neither pulled away. The vampire instead drew Emily tighter against his body, his lips moving with hers, their tongues tasting the other.

After a few minutes Emily pulled away with a smirk. Edward looked dazed as Emily leaned up to give him one last peck. Continuing on her walk the witch waved back to Edward. "I bet the puppy has left by now. Have a good day Edward."


	5. Chapter 5

That evening Emily attempted to watch a movie with her father but found herself wandering up to her room before it finished. Charlie was far too smug about Bella heading to a bonfire at the reservation to sit still, every few minutes he would ask for the time before his grin grew bigger the later it got. Eventually the witch figured if her father wasn't watching there was no point in pretending she cared what was happening on the screen either.

Entering her room Emily was surprised at who she found standing in front of her fireplace.

"You shouldn't leave fires unattended for so long," the vampire said not looking away from the flames.

Smirking Emily shut the door and moved to lean against her bed, "It's not your normal fire."

"I've noticed," he turned and glanced at Emily before walking over to where the bathroom door was open. "How is this possible?"

"Magic." When the man shot her an annoyed look the witch couldn't help but laugh. "You really do know so little."

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true."

There was silence in the room for a few minutes as the vampire curiously took in the woman before him. "Jasper's been here."

"He has."

"Why?"

Emily shrugged, "To catch up."

"You know each other?"

"Obviously."

"Is he the one who bit you?"

"You are full of questions…"

Edward growled his eyes darkening, "Just answer me."

"No."

"No he didn't or no you won't answer?"

Pushing herself away from the bed Emily walked over to her desk to grab her book, "No I won't answer."

Growling the vampire turned and threw a fist at the wall cracking the plaster with his force. He instantly took a step back shocked by his own actions.

"You seem rather tense," Emily said climbing onto her bed. Leaning back against the headboard she observed the vampire run his hands through his hair as he stared at the damaged wall. "Could this current mood have anything to do with Bella being down at the reservation?"

The man looked angrily at Emily, "She may go where she pleases."

"Right, the Switzerland thing…"

Disregarding the vampire's growl at her reminder Emily opened her book and picked up where she had left off earlier.

Edward struggled to control himself. Something about the woman before him awoke his vampire making it hard to contain himself. Taking a deep breath to try and refocus his mind Jasper's scent came flooding back into his senses and his anger started to increase again. What was going on with him?

He tried focusing his attention on Emily, she sat calmly on her bed reading a book with odd looking writing on it. Her pale skin almost made her look as flawless as a vampire but he could see her veins still rushing blood through her body and hear her rhythmic heartbeat from her chest. Her lips as always were painted a bright red and her eyes had a light smokey effect that set off their dark brown color. There was something not of this time about her as her dark waves cascaded down to graze the top of her silk slip. He rarely saw her in normal clothes and certainly never jeans, come to think of it he had only ever seen her in dresses.

"Do you have something against pants?"

"Excuse me," Emily looked up perplexed, her forehead slightly scrunched at the odd question.

Edward fought the urge to duck his head at having spoken his thoughts aloud, "I… It's just you are always in these elegant slips or a dress. In the few weeks you've been here you've never worn pants."

Emily nodded her head, "I haven't. It's not really common in my society."

"Your society?"

"It's a bit old fashion to modern human terms I suppose."

"There's nothing wrong with being old fashion."

Emily laughed as she looked back down at her book, "Says the vampire."

"You don't like it?"

"No, I do." And Emily did, she very much preferred wizarding society to that of the muggles. When she was young she remembered her father often ranting with her Uncle Remus about the archaic policies and outdated traditions of her world but once experiencing it herself she learned the truth. While some saw it as an old barbaric system she saw the beauty in it. The magical world was a ruthless yet limitless place, especially for people like her. At the end of the day power was always the victor. "I much prefer it to muggle society."

"Then why are you here?"

Closing her book Emily looked out the window, wasn't that the million galleon question. Essentially this wasn't her world anymore, but then again her father was here and with all the chaos still going on back in England, it seemed everyone's life was changing except for hers. She had been expecting so many things but that first morning waking up alone she realized how stagnant her life was about to become. She didn't exactly know how to move forward and she seemed to be the only one struggling. Even Harry had adjusted better than her, hence his current absence from Forks. Though after her last letter from him it sounded as if he would be arriving soon.

Shrugging Emily looked back at the vampire and offered him a partial truth, "I missed my father and since my best friend, whom I live with, is betrothed to be married this summer I thought it would be a good idea to visit while Draco adjusts to his new priorities."

"Is he your age?"

"He is."

"I was told you are seventeen."

"I am."

"And you don't find that too young?" Edward asked tilting his head.

"It's very common," Emily answered waving her hand and sending her book back to her desk. Edward tracked the floating object in awe slightly before returning back to his previous line of questioning.

"Are you betrothed?"

"No."

"Is that by choice?"

"Partially, I guess." Emily thought about all the random men in the wizarding world who seemed to come out of the woodwork to ask for her hand, especially after the final battle. Not one even caught her attention. "Draco's contract was written when we were quite young. As my parents died when I was a year old it was left up to my guardian and upon his death it was left up to me."

"So it's up to Charlie?"

"While he raised me, Charlie is not my guardian."

"Then who is?"

"No one," Emily smiled at the confusion written on the vampire's face. "Charlie is not considered fit to be my guardian, my Uncle Sirius held that role until he was killed a few years ago."

"Then what is stopping you?"

"The right suitor has yet to ask," Emily said climbing off her bed. She slowly walked past Edward as she made her way towards the bathroom.

"And if the right man asked…"

Turning around the witch leaned against the door frame, "Why are you so curious about this?"

"I just am," Edward shrugged but thought back to his constant battles with Bella over the idea. The human cringed at the thought of getting married, heck she could barely even say the word without stuttering yet here was her younger sister talking about it so casually. "And you didn't answer my question."

"In a heartbeat." Emily reached out and patted the man's arm before heading into the bathroom to start her shower. She didn't even bother closing the door as she undressed and climbed in under the warm spray. The vampire was far too stoic to look in on her and for some reason she found herself disappointed.

Edward froze quickly turning his back to the open door. He couldn't believe she was taking a shower, something started stirring inside of him and once again the vampire found himself asking how he had ended up in the woman's room.

Once he had gotten his senses back earlier in the woods he had run straight to find Bella. She had noticed something was off about him, so he had actually encouraged her to go to the bonfire with Black to give him some space. The vampire had resolved to stay away from Emily that whatever happened had been a moment of weakness on his part due to the mystery and odd feelings she stirred in him yet after dropping off Bella he had set off running and somehow found his way to Emily's room.

As Emily turned off the shower she reached for her towel and dried off before wrapping it around her body. Walking back in the bedroom she found the vampire still stood frozen with his back to her. "What are you doing here Edward?"

"I don't know…" the vampire spoke softly his face looking slightly confused as he turned to look at her. His eyes traveled down Emily's body, he was certain if he was able to his cheeks would be quite flush at the sight before him.

Emily walked slowly up to the vampire a smirk on her knowing face. His arms instinctively went to her hips as her hands rested on his chest. Edward leaned down and captured the woman's lips, his arms tightening to lift her off the ground. He moved to press her up against the wall never removing his lips from hers. Eventually his lips traveled down to nip at her neck as he allowed her to slide down the wall and catch her breath.

Looking down at the creature before him he was mystified, "What are you?"

"A witch," Emily answered softly.

A loud ringing broke the moment and Edward seemed to shake himself as he took a quick step back from the beautiful woman. Looking at the screen he could see it was Bella calling, guilt welled up inside of him as with one glance towards Emily he answered the call.

"Hello."

"It's Jake."

"Is everything okay?" Edward was immediately worried, if anything happened to Bella it would be his own fault. He had told her to go knowing how dangerous the wolves could be…

"She's fine, just asleep. I'm driving her to the line if you're ready to pick her up."

"Of course, I'll be right there."

Hanging up he looked to where Emily was standing still leaning against the wall. She was looking off towards the window as if she was disinterested in him. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it quickly running out the door to Bella's room where he jumped out of the window and ran to get his car.

Emily stayed where she was leaning against the wall. What in the name of Hades was she thinking? Earlier she could excuse but this time it had felt different, she genuinely felt a spark of jealousy at him running off likely to collect Bella. It annoyed her to no end, there was no reason to feel upset over a weak vampire who had an odd obsession with dating a plain human girl.

A knock at the window drew Emily's focus and she waved her hand to unlock it. Jasper landed quietly on the hardwood floor taking a deep breath in his face showed confusion. "Edward was here?"

Nodding Emily let her head rest back against the wall, "He was."

"Are you going to tell me why?" He probed coming up in front of the witch and tugging on her towel lightly.

"I'm not really sure. He asked random questions, then took off." Looking up at the vampire Emily noticed the man's eyes had significantly dulled to an odd orange shade. "How many rabbits did that take?" the witch asked reaching up to run her fingers under Jasper's eye.

"Far too many," he said ducking his head to peck Emily's lips. He growled lowly likely tasting his brother on her but he didn't say anything. Instead he picked her up and carried her back to the bed ripping the towel from her body. What followed was by no means gentle yet Emily couldn't be bothered to care. He teased her and brought her to the brink making her plead with him again and again to let her finish.

Jasper couldn't stop himself as he bit down into the healed skin, no one was worthy of this woman especially his goody two shoes want to be human brother. The two came undone and Jasper felt Emily's magic pulse as he roared out. A part of him wished in that moment that the silencing wards would fail and the rest of the house, particularly one being could know what he'd done.

The next morning found the pair seated in the kitchen while Emily ate her breakfast and Jasper read through an old text on famous wizarding duels.

"Harry's coming for Bella's graduation," Emily said glancing over at the once again red eyed vampire.

"Is he bringing Nym?" Jasper didn't even look up, he could feel the witch's apprehension. The twins didn't have the best of relationships and though they tried he doubted they could fix the damage.

"I would assume so but she didn't mention anything in her letter."

"Did you ever tell them?"

"No," Emily shook her head knowing exactly what the man was referring to. Standing up she moved to put her dish in the sink. "I don't see why I need to."

"It's going to become obvious at some point," Jasper said getting up to join the witch.

"Wizards have a long lifespan."

Leaning down to nibble on the skin under her ear Jasper made a grunt of agreement before pulling back and spinning her around to look her in the eyes, "But they still start to age at some point."

"I'm very powerful."

Laughing Jasper threw his head back, "Yes Darlin', you are powerful. So powerful in fact all the clocks need to be reset again."

As the vampire kissed the top of her head Emily's eyes darted around the room to the various appliances, "Morgana, not again! Do you think my Dad noticed?"

"Do you think I noticed what?" Charlie nodded at the pair as he entered the room making his way for the coffee machine. He noted the vampire's eyes were once again red and how close he was standing to Emily. Trying to hold his tongue he looked at the machine to press the button and sighed as he noticed the clock. Looking back up Emily was already pulling the vampire from the room. "You better not have damaged my TV!" he called after the pair.

Emily and Jasper spent their day in her room. The vampire was sick of attempting to dull his eyes. Since Alice was so close he needn't worry about the pull and Emily was proving to be far too great a temptation for him, he figured that a few more days of being selfish wouldn't hurt anyone.

"I need to make Dad's dinner," Emily said from where she was putting away her cauldron. The witch had been brewing a few potions, a couple the vampire recognized but the last one seemed to be more of an experiment.

Closing his book Jasper stood to follow the witch downstairs, he had to appreciate that she didn't demand he follow her. At home if Alice was around she would constantly have him trail her around the house or Emmett would pester him until he agreed to play video games. It was nice to be back with Emily, where she left him to his own devices. His life was never more relaxed and peaceful than when she was around and yet somehow she wasn't his mate. Fate could be so cruel.

Edward was standing at the bottom of the stairs as the pair came down, his eyes glued to his brother's. A growl came from deep in his throat and Jasper prepared to jump in front of Emily who seemed unfazed. The woman looked to the couch where her sister lay sleeping before continuing on to the kitchen.

"What do you think you're doing?" Edward snarled out through clenched teeth.

Jasper looked back to where Emily had vanished, his body still ready if the other vampire chose to attack and shrugged. "Em's making Charlie dinner, I thought I'd keep her company."

"And Alice?"

"You understand very little _brother_ ," Jasper taunted the vampire. He could feel the man's annoyance increase tenfold.

Edward wanted to roar as Jasper repeated the words Emily had spoken to him multiple times. Images of his brother finding Emily last night still in her towel played through his mind, once he saw Jasper throw her on the bed he snapped lunging only to find himself trapped in a translucent dome.

Jasper smirked which only angered Edward more as he pounded his fists against his cage. Emily for her part stuck her head out of the kitchen and had her hand extended towards him with a stick in it. "What are you?"

"I told you last night," the witch sighed before disappearing back to her task.

Jasper looked momentarily shocked at that little piece of information before smiling at his still trapped brother. "You might want to calm down, you wouldn't want to hurt your precious human."

Edward wanted to throttle Jasper as he walked away to join Emily. Looking to where Bella was sleeping he expected his body to calm down, when it came to his girlfriend's safety he usually could find his control. Instead he found no want to go to her only a strong pull to get into the kitchen.

Bella started to shift as Emily banged a few pots, the barrier stopping him slowly started to dissolve. He fought his instincts refusing to take a breath and walked as calmly as he could to be by the human's side. The vampire couldn't make heads or tails of the thoughts running through his mind as he stared at the blank TV screen in front of him.

Bella woke as Charlie got home that evening and Jasper flew up the stairs before the human could see him, Edward supposed he didn't want to deal with the questions it would bring from the girl. Charlie on the other hand noticed his brother's presence and shook his head. The bits he could pick out from Charlie's mind led him to believe the Police Chief was also just as confused as he was about Jasper's connection to Emily.

Excusing himself once again as the family made to eat dinner, Edward took the moment to head home. He found the house empty and smiled at his good fortune as he entered Carlisle's private study. Making his way over to the bookshelf he began to scan the shelves, there had to be something here…

That night when he returned to Bella the vampire waited for his girlfriend to fall asleep before pulling out his finds from his sire's collection. He had to hide his books as Bella woke the next morning but on the positive side she seemed a bit better having gotten plenty of sleep. She had for the first time seemed hesitant over her impending change and something inside Edward hoped her new found fear might win out in delaying things.

Giving the girl a quick kiss to the head Edward ran off to collect his car and return for his usual pick up. After knocking several times with no response the vampire decided to let himself in. He found Bella trembling in the kitchen clutching the day's newspaper. Leaning over her, he took the paper from her hands and began to read.

"It's getting worse," the girl whispered looking desperately up at Edward. "Has Alice said anything?"

Shaking his head Edward finished the article, "She hasn't seen anything, which is why we've been so hesitant to act. None of us are willing to go up there completely blind but we may no longer have a choice."

"No, I think…"

Edward immediately cut the girl off, even though her mind was closed to him it was obvious what she was thinking. "We talked about this yesterday. Not while you're feeling threatened. You'd be more of a liability than a help anyway."

"I could help Edward!"

Sighing Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. There was no way he was going to be able to make her understand and there was someone he needed to talk to. "Do you mind driving yourself to school?"

"Why?"

"I need to talk to Jasper."

"Oh, is he back? I can go with you, it's not like they are going to give us anything new today with finals about to start."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Bella wasn't happy with his answer and crossed her arms, "Why not? You can't keep hiding things from me!"

Taking a deep breath as to not lash out Edward used an excuse he knew would play on Bella's insecurities and guilt her into giving him his way. "He's still not comfortable around you and he had a slip while he was away." He neglected to point out that as far as the family knew Jasper was still off visiting a friend, a friend who happened to live in this very house. "Try not to bring it up with Alice, she's just as upset over the accident and she doesn't want to make you feel badly."

The girl's face dropped with every word and the vampire could tell his words had the effect he had desired. "Poor Alice, I know she's been worried about Jasper since he was gone most of last year but can't you see this is more reason for me to be like you. If I was changed Jasper wouldn't be so uncomfortable around me."

Edward nodded simply to appease her but he knew his brother's hate for his girlfriend went beyond her humanity, he doubted Jasper would like her even as a vampire something that had started to cause some friction since Jasper's return a few weeks ago. While he had missed out on the 'vote' when told about it he had instantly been against the idea much to Rose's joy and his mate's ire.

Quickly walking Bella out to his car he handed her the keys making an excuse that it would save him a trip of having to hide it before taking off to find where Jasper had been hunting in the woods. She had bought it easily and drove off promising him not to tell Alice what they had talked about.

Emily was lounging on her bed as she watched Jasper dry his hair with a towel. She rather enjoyed watching him half naked and the smirk on his face told her he knew the effect he was having on her. A knock at the door distracted the pair as Emily looked curiously at the object, as far as she was aware her father and Bella should both be gone by now.

Hearing Jasper's low growl Emily had an idea of who it might be and waved her hand allowing the door to swing open. "Come in Edward."

"Have you seen this?" he asked walking directly towards Jasper with what looked like the newspaper. He avoided looking in Emily's direction though she never took her eyes off his back.

Jasper took the paper and began to read where Edward had indicated. Once finished he titled his head and grinned, Emily knew that smile well, the man was expecting a fight.

"Are you sure?" Edward asked reading his brother's thoughts.

"I'm sure," he answered looking toward Emily. "The signs are all there, it just begs the question Volturi or Victoria?"

Emily moved to join Jasper her hand touching his bare chest, she could feel Edward stiffen watching their interaction. She wasn't about to let Edward continue to pretend she didn't exist. "Is this about Seattle?" At his nod the witch continued, "It's an army then."

"You know I expected a few newborns but the damage has increased greatly. It has to be an army but they are untrained. Whoever is behind this has allowed them loose in Seattle, I'm surprised the Volturi have yet to step in which leads me to wonder why that is."

"You think we are their target…" Edward said his eyes glued to the place where Emily's hand touched Jasper's chest. He was struggling, everything in him wanted to grab her and pull her away from his brother.

"I do."

"Maybe the Volturi are behind this, Aro was obsessed with the thought of Alice and me standing by his side. I didn't think he would ever act on it or at least so soon…"

"No, I doubt they are controlling this. It's far too sloppy but that doesn't rule out that they aren't already aware of the problem."

"A double cross," Emily added. "They allow this to go on forcing the coven to action but come in just at the end to clean up the mess and 'save' the remaining members."

"You up for a fight Darlin'?" Jasper asked looking down at the witch he was now holding in his arms.

Laughing Emily hit the vampire lightly, adding a little magic into her hand so he could feel the action before pushing herself away. Moving to her bookshelf the witch began looking through the various tomes. "Wouldn't it be easier to simply contact Aro? It would force his hand."

"Not up for a challenge?"

Looking back at the soldier Emily rolled her eyes before returning to her task, "J, you know as well as I do that a little fire goes a long way. Where's the fun in that?"

Edward stared between the two and it finally clicked how they knew each other, "You spent this last year with her." It was the only reasonable explanation.

"I did."

"But how did you know about their world?" He himself had only begun to learn about it from the random books he had taken from Carlisle.

"I've lived a very different life than you. Some of the acquaintances I've made have ties in that world. When I left the family I was eager for a fight, I ran to Peter's but it only took a few days for me to be directed to Emily."

Smirking Emily grabbed the book she had been looking for and sent it floating over to her bed. "Imagine my shock when the God of War walks into my camp and offers to fight by my side."

Edward wanted to ask more but bit his tongue his mind still racing with the possibilities of what was happening not far from Forks in the heart of Seattle. "We need to speak to Carlisle."

"I can hardly go to the house," Jasper said looking directly at the other vampire.

"Fair," Edward acknowledged slightly cringing at the reminder of the other's red eyes. "I'll speak to him but he will want your help."

"You'll need to hurry," Jasper informed him. "The longer we wait the higher the risk."

Edward nodded, unsure of how exactly to excuse himself he waved awkwardly to his brother attempting to ignore the witch before dashing from the room hoping that Emily would think he was in a rush to talk to his father and not the coward he felt.

Shaking her head Emily moved to grab the book from her bed quickly flipping through the pages till she found what she was looking for.

"What are you doing Darlin'?" Jasper leaned over her shoulder to read with her.

"It's a potion to help with your eye dilemma."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"Because I'm selfish," Emily said continuing to scan the needed ingredients. "And because it's quite dark, it's meant for torture."

Jasper merely raised an eyebrow at that.

"It's meant to drain the vampire of its sustenance. People would trap a vampire in a room and feed them the potion, you literally would be driven mad with thirst. It would take a while but eventually the vampire would run out of energy their mind lost to madness, too weak to do anything about their state."

"Why not simply rip them apart burning each piece as you go?"

"This lasts much longer and think of what could happen if they let that vampire loose on their enemy. Ravenous for blood, willing to do anything and almost indestructible… you have a wonderful weapon at your disposal. The reason it became a monitored potion was because of the muggle deaths. Wizards would release these predatory vampires on small towns leaving large death tolls that needed to be covered up."

"And you want to do this to me?"

"No, I prefer your red eyes. This is what you were made to be but you seem reluctant to go home without weakening yourself. If you want I can make this potion, we have a bunch of animals in a contained area with you and then boom amber eyes."

Looking back down at the book Jasper studied the diagram of the crazed vampire. Shaking his head he imagined himself locked in a cage driven mad by his thirst, he knew himself well enough to know that once he was free of whatever cage he was in he would then go on to devour as many humans as he could find. Maybe that was what the witch wanted, it was her own version of forcing him to accept that he wasn't made for the 'vegetarian' lifestyle. Sometimes Emily had a dark side to her that only his true vampire could comprehend.

"I think I'm good with my red eyes, Darlin'."

"Good," Emily smirked up at the vampire before pecking his lips. "If you ever change your mind…"

Laughing the witch sent the book back to the shelf and disappeared into the bathroom. Running a hand through his hair Jasper allowed himself to fall back on the magically strengthened bed, that woman would be his undoing one day.


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't take long before Jasper's phone began to ring. Seeing the name flash on the screen the vampire knew he had to answer. Emily for her part was lying across his chest her eyes closed but she was awake, she was a bit smug after getting Jasper to agree to leave his red eyes be. If she had to keep tricking him into it she would show him that this was what he would always be, he was the God of War not a human. She hated to see him unhappy and for her own selfishness if it meant he stayed her companion longer, so be it.

"Carlisle," Jasper greeted turning his phone on speaker.

"Jasper, how are you son?" there was worry in the voice that answered.

"I'm fine…" the vampire looked puzzled as he ran his fingers through the witch's hair.

"Edward told me about your slip."

That was not what he had been expecting to hear. "Did he?"

"Don't be mad at him, he worries for you just as we all do."

"I'm sure..."

The sarcasm seemed to be lost on the other vampire as he continued to speak, "With that worry I wanted to check in on you, I know that feeling your victim's pain and emotion troubles you."

Jasper could feel mirth radiate from Emily as her body shook with silent laughter. She had been with him several times while he fed. She knew how he enjoyed the kill, his victim's emotions only served to incite the monster inside of him. Of course he couldn't tell the Cullens that so they had long believed that his want to live their lifestyle came from a depression born out of the negative emotions he received when feeding.

"It's important that you remember we are all here for you, you need never fear the rejection of our family."

Jasper sighed because he knew that statement to be false, if any of the Cullens including his mate knew his true nature they would turn their back on him and while Alice drove him mad the thought of her being repulsed by him yet unable to escape due to their bond caused him pain. He played his part well so that she could be happy, he sacrificed his joy for hers.

His hand passed the ends of Emily's hair and trailed down her bare skin enjoying the warmth under his fingertips. Ultimately though, he was a selfish being and sometimes he needed to be free. Free to allow his true demon loose and no one understood him better than the woman in his arms. Not once had Emily forced him to be anything other than the monster he was.

"I appreciate that Carlisle," and he did because Carlisle meant his words in honesty, it was Jasper who was the deceiver. "I'm doing well but I think knowing the rules of the treaty as I do it might be best for everyone especially Bella if I stay away a bit longer."

"Oh, Edward had said you were heading back up to help with the situation in Seattle." _Edward is saying a lot of things…_ Jasper thought. "He mentioned you were feeling a touch apprehensive about how we would react to your accident and I just wanted to reach out to you to give you peace of mind as you headed back that there was nothing to fear of our reaction."

"Well thank you Carlisle, I guess I will be seeing you soon."

"Are you sure? If you are uncomfortable here we can manage."

Jasper knew that wasn't true, the Cullens were terrible fighters with very little training since they tended to ignore their vampire instincts. Without him they had a chance at winning but there would be a cost.

"It's fine, just give me a day to get there."

"Alice will be glad to hear it, she's planning a graduation party for the senior class. She was worried you would miss it."

"Wonderful…"

This time Carlisle seemed to catch on to Jasper's tone and laughed. "Well you know how she is."

"I do," though why they expected him having just 'slipped' to be able to maintain his composure in a room filled with prey was beyond him. "I better go Carlisle."

"Alright, be safe son."

"I will."

Hanging up Jasper was close to throttling Edward, why on earth would he force his return to the coven? Was he worried Jasper would snack on his precious human staying in the same house as her or did it have to do with Emily? His brother's emotions were extremely conflicted when he was around the witch not to mention he had tasted Edward on Emily's lips the other night…

"You gave in rather quickly." The vampire looked down at the woman snuggled into him, Emily refused to meet his gaze.

"What else could I do?"

 _Tell the truth_ Emily thought but instead of saying it out loud she took a deep breath. Harry was meant to arrive any day and she would be back to being alone. Rolling off Jasper Emily climbed out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom locking the door magically behind her, if Jasper wanted to keep playing human he was welcome to but she wanted no part in it.

That night Jasper paced outside of Bella's window waiting for Edward to arrive. Emily had refused to come out of the bathroom so he had fled into the forest angry that his last day possibly for a while with the witch was ruined. Jasper felt a shift in emotions before he saw his target, within seconds he had the man pinned to a tree.

"What were you thinking?" Edward was shocked as his brother snarled at him, he attempted to read his thoughts but the most prominent image was the door to Emily's bathroom.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I slipped…" Jasper's red eyes bore into his own and not for the first time Edward was fearful of the older vampire. "You told Carlisle I had an 'accident' and that I was coming home!"

The bronze haired vampire attempted to shrug, he couldn't see a problem in what he had done. "Carlisle agreed that we need your help to train us before we can do anything about the newborns in Seattle. I don't know why you're mad I gave you an excuse!"

"I didn't need one!" Jasper roared his mind flashing back to an image of Emily, this time Edward didn't recognize the setting.

 _He watched through Jasper's eyes as they ran through what looked to be a forest. Emily had a smirk on her face as she turned to look at him. 'You ready cowboy?'_

' _Always Darlin'.'_

 _The pair suddenly stopped and turned around, within seconds men became visible through the trees. Emily was shooting off spells as Jasper worked his way through what Edward now realized were vampires. Ripping them apart he continued dodging some of the bright lights as they flew through the night. When the vampires were all in pieces Jasper retuned to Emily's side._

' _Get behind me' she instructed._

 _Jasper wrapped his arms around the witch and pulled her back into his chest. Raising her wand a snake made of flames seemed to slither towards the pile. Coiling around it the fire flashed purple before returning back into Emily's wand. All that remained was a pile of ashes and purple smoke._

Edward looked shocked as Jasper smirked feeling confusion coming off the younger vampire.

"You knew I was going to talk to Carlisle though," Edward tried to focus his mind. While he hated watching the gruesome images he sometimes saw in his brother's mind he supposed he shouldn't be surprised at what he had just been shown. He knew Jasper was capable of taking a life that despite what he told the family he had no problems with his status as a vampire. Had Jasper not told him earlier that day he sought out Emily because he had been looking for a fight?

"I thought you would tell him what I suspected, that he would call and confer with me on a plan. I didn't expect you to set the terms for my immediate return!"

"You can't keep staying here!" Edward argued pushing back against the other's hold on him but it was no use as he was pressed back more forcibly, the tree slightly cracking from the pressure. "Alice would figure out you were here eventually, don't you even feel slightly bad for what you are doing to her?"

"You need to let go of your romantic human ideals on relationships! Mates does not equate to only being with one person, an eternity is a long time _brother_."

"So she knows what you've been doing?" Edward asked starting to wonder how he had never picked up on this aspect of his sibling's relationship before but he instantly realized that he was missing nothing as Jasper looked away from him briefly. It wasn't guilt though, Edward could tell the man truly believed he was doing nothing wrong.

"You know I'm not the man I pretend to be…"

Nodding Edward acknowledged the truth in that statement. For a long time he had known Jasper was unhappy but he had never approached him about it or said anything to the others because he believed that the mating bond would continue to pacify the soldier. That being mated meant true love, something that outweighed all other desires. Maybe he had been belittling his brother's struggle.

"I will go back to the house," Jasper paused looking off towards the Swan's household and Edward read the other's thoughts clear as day, as long as Emily remained the older vampire would struggle to stay.

That night Edward continued to read the few books he had found in Carlisle's office, while he found it fascinating he knew he wasn't even scratching the surface of what was hidden from most of the world's grasp. With each page he became more curious about the girl who was likely sleeping just a few steps away down the hall.

This woman lived in a world frozen in an older frame of mind where Lords and Ladies still held titles with weight, where magical creatures roamed freely. To see and experience what she must, he couldn't blame her for preferring it to the modern day world. He wondered though what had led her to be involved in such fighting as he had seen in Jasper's mind earlier, there was so much he wanted to know, to ask if only he had the courage to walk down the hall…

Bella shifted in her sleep her arm moving to lay across his chest. The vampire sighed as he looked down at the human who seemed to be shivering slightly from his body's temperature. Moving the girl so she was once again wrapped in her blankets and warm Edward moved to sit by the window, he could see his brother leaning against one of the trees. The two locked eyes before the older one turned and moved deeper into the forest.

The next day was grating for Edward, Alice who should be home welcoming her mate was instead excited about hosting a party and was bouncing all over the place while Bella continued to moan about it all.

"A party is a bad idea," Bella sighed looking worriedly around the lunchroom.

"You only get to do this once as a human," Alice insisted pushing her food around her plate. "It will be fun!"

"There are better things to be focusing on, like when do you leave?"

"One week," Edward answered running a hand through his hair.

"What did your _cousins_ say?"

Alice bit her lip nervously before flashing a quick glance at Edward who shook his head. "They won't help," the Pixie said ignoring her brother's glare.

"Why not?" Bella looked slightly panicked as she looked back and forth between the pair.

"It doesn't matter, Carlisle wouldn't agree to their terms and so we will do this alone." Edward gave his sister a look that promised pain if she attempted to tell Bella anything else about the Denali clan. The last thing he needed was to have Bella break down in the cafeteria thinking the wolves were about to be slaughtered by their family's ally.

"You don't have to..." Bella started and Edward instantly pinched his nose as he took an unneeded deep breath.

"We are not talking about this now, I've already told you not while you feel threatened."

"He's right Bella," Alice added getting a shocked look of betrayal from her human friend. "You'd be a liability not a help."

"But…"

"Maybe she should talk to Jasper," Alice said continuing to nibble on her lip.

"He'd more likely eat her," Edward countered not liking the idea. Jasper at the best of times tolerated Bella but now that he was upset with Edward he doubt the older vampire would afford the human a second glance.

"She would better understand…"

"And he would kill you."

Alice waved the notion away with a laugh, "He wouldn't hurt me and I think it's a good idea."

Shaking his head Edward watched as Alice started looking through the future trying to gage her mate's reaction to her request. The pout on Alice's face must have given away the outcome to Bella who kept looking towards Edward with a scrunched forehead.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, let's head to class."

Bella was relentless throughout the rest of the day, she insisted that he hear her out on changing her. Somehow the human seemed to think he didn't understand how different she was, that by changing her she'd be able to protect him. The more she talked, the more he thought that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to let her speak with Jasper, and if he ended her…

Shaking his head Edward was shocked by his own thoughts. Never had he been so nonchalant about Bella's life, what was with him? Looking over at the human who was waiting for his latest reason to deny her wish he said the first thing that came to mind, "I'm going hunting."

"What?"

"Tomorrow, I need to hunt."

"But your eyes are still amber," Bella said momentarily distracted.

"I know but we need to be at our strongest," red eyes flashed through Edward's mind, "or at least our own version of our strongest for the fight. It means I'll have to hunt more this week."

"Do you… would it be better…" Bella seemed to be fumbling for words her finger finally pointing to her eyes.

She wanted this life so badly yet Edward couldn't help but seem to think she wasn't even close to ready if she couldn't mention the idea of a different 'diet'. Instead of voicing his opinion he simply nodded "Yes, human blood makes us stronger."

"Oh," she seemed pensive for a moment. "How strong will I be?"

"Stronger than me," Edward admitted not pleased with Bella's ability to turn everything into a conversation about her change.

"I think I'll go see Jake tomorrow." Edward raised an eyebrow at the girl's change of topic. "It's just in a few weeks he won't want to see me anymore and if you're going hunting it will give me something to do other than be babysat."

Nodding Edward decided it was in his best interest to agree. The girl smiled pecking the vampire's cheek as she ran off to call Jacob and tell him the good news.

After dropping Bella at the border the next day Edward found himself running through the forest, he figured he might as well grab a 'snack' since Bella thought he was hunting anyway. He didn't really pay attention to where he was going until he heard a heartbeat and froze. The vampire walked slowly towards the sound, coming upon a stream he noticed a woman was laying on a large rock.

He instantly recognized the dark wavy hair and pale skin, her eyes were closed as if she was soaking up invisible rays of sun on this dreary Forks day. She appeared rather peaceful which countered her father's mood who had seemed concerned about her behavior earlier that day, according to him Emily had refused to leave her room for over a day. At the moment the witch appeared perfectly content to him, perhaps having been apart so long her father worried for no reason.

Deciding not to impede upon her he took a step back before he was stopped.

"You don't have to run away Edward." He looked curiously at the girl, how had she known he was there? "You're welcome to join me."

She patted the space next to her and after a moment of hesitation the vampire couldn't stop himself from climbing up to join her.

"Your father's been worried about you," Edward awkwardly said the first thing that came to his mind as he looked down at the stream, for some reason he was afraid to look at the woman. The last time he had seen her he had been running from the room like a coward as she clung to his brother.

"Has he?"

"He says you haven't left your room in over a day."

"Clearly he's wrong," Emily said her face emotionless.

"How long have you been out here?"

"Awhile."

"And you're not cold?"

"Why would I be?"

Edward looked around himself as a chill wind brushed passed him, to him it was obvious why she should be cold but perhaps like him she ran on a different temperature. The pair sat in silence for several minutes as Edward watched the water slowly flow down the stream. He had finished the few books Carlisle had and here was his opportunity to ask questions but he couldn't find the strength or words to speak them.

"What are you doing out here Edward? Shouldn't you be home supporting your brother through his slip? Or perhaps with your human?"

"She's on the reservation," Edward said and though he knew he should be jealous having heard the wolf's thoughts when he dropped her off he couldn't help but be relieved Bella wasn't around for a few minutes.

"And Jasper?"

"He didn't slip."

"No, he didn't." Edward watched Emily's hand trail over where he could just faintly make out the once pronounced teeth marks.

"You heal quickly."

"I'm not human."

"No, I guess you're not." Edward paused as he looked back toward the stream, the more he stared at Emily the more desire welled in him to cover the marks left by his brother with his own. "Do all of your kind heal so quickly?"

"Healing times are shortened by our vast knowledge of potions and magic, so yes…"

"I sense a but."

"I have never been the one to judge my people against," Emily sighed but she didn't move. "I have never been normal."

"I see."

"I doubt it."

"Why do you always do that?" Edward demanded looking down at the witch.

"Because it's true, you are a vampire pretending to be a human."

"I don't…"

But she didn't allow him to interrupt her, "You are dating a human! You have given up everything you are to live a lie," Emily's eyes finally opened and they bore into his own.

"I live this way because I don't want to be a monster."

"You cannot change what you are, only fools try to mask themselves."

"You don't like me."

Pushing herself up Emily sat starring at the vampire and he couldn't help but feel she found him lacking and for some reason that bothered him. "A vampire has red eyes, he has a thirst and desire to be strong. He doesn't cower when he takes a life, he doesn't repent for something he cannot control. You… I see only weakness in your eyes. A desire to be only half a man."

Edward felt angered as his brother with red eyes flashed through his mind at her words, "And Jasper is all those things?"

"What does Jasper have to do with your choices?"

"They are his too! He gave up human blood to live amongst the humans and yet I don't see you turning him away."

"Have I turned you away…"

Edward swallowed as he shook his head no, if anything she had been drawing him into her.

Emily's hand clutched her stomach and laughed, "And do you honestly believe those are the choices he has made? If his mate was not so set upon your lifestyle do you think anything else could hold him to your coven?"

"Obviously not even a mate can hold him," the vampire said waving his hand towards Emily's neck. "Has he not been sleeping with you?"

"And why do you care if he has?"

"Because what I thought mates were and what I'm seeing are two very different things!"

"Books can only tell you so much Edward, and human books so much less."

"How did you…"

Emily held up her hand to stop his questioning, "Human books romanticize love especially that of beings told to be magical. An eternal happily ever after is a myth, a mate does not equate to happiness or monogamy. Surely a mind reader like you should know that."

"So my brother is happy with you?"

"He's happy when he is not restricted, do you know how pathetic he looked the day I arrived at your house to pick up Bella? The man I saw standing in your living room was not the man I knew."

Shaking his head Edward ran a hand through his hair, he was well aware of Jasper's unhappiness of his hidden wants and yet… "Then why doesn't he tell Alice?"

"The mating bond just as it doesn't offer happiness cannot give you trust."

"Then what good is it?"

Laughing again Emily threw a leg over Edward's lap so she was straddling him. Taking his face in her hands she rested her head against his as she whispered, "None at all."

A breath left Edward as he closed his eyes Emily being so close to him made him want to do things he shouldn't. He knew if he was a better man he'd run from where he sat but something seemed to be tying him to his spot.

"You will find that fate is often cruel, nothing is ever given to you so easily."

Edward's hands moved to grip Emily's waist, "You speak as if you have experience…"

"My fate is the cruelest of them all."

With that Emily's lips met his own and Edward couldn't stop himself. He pulled her desperately tighter to him, somewhere in the back of his mind he feared bruising her but he couldn't be bothered to loosen his hold. Her fingers laced into his hair gripping tightly as she pushed herself against him. Edward found his hands trailing down her thighs to edge of her dress, pushing the fabric up slightly it allowed his hands to travel back up to her hips, his hands now pressing against bare skin. Emily guided Edward to her neck where he nipped and kissed the exposed flesh, he could feel the scars from his brother and everything in him was screaming at him to cover over those marks with his own.

Smiling as she lost herself, Emily's right hand moved to undo the vampire's jeans easily freeing him. She pulled lightly on his hair bringing his face back to look at her. Locking eyes with the man she saw no reluctance and allowed herself to settle down on him. As she began to move Edward's lips kissed every inch of exposed skin that they possibly could.

As his grip became harsher Emily knew the man wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, "Bite me!"

Edward did as he was told his teeth covered the marks that so offended him and took a pull of the witch's blood. With his swallow he threw his head back and his monster came forth roaring in satisfaction.

He felt Emily's body go slightly limp in his arms and he helped her to lie back down on the rock. Her brow was a touch sweaty but she seemed content, her breathing still strong despite him having taken a drink of her blood.

"You don't need to worry so much," she said pulling the man to lay down beside her.

Looking her up and down the vampire had to disagree, her dress was torn and much of the skin where he had been touching her appeared bruised.

Emily reached forward and tried to smooth out the line of worry on the man's forehead. "Stop it, you didn't hurt me. I rather enjoyed myself."

Edward watched the woman's eyes for any sign of deception. Suddenly her mind was open to him and he could see and hear how content she was, she was merely a touch tired. And just as quickly as he saw into her mind it went once again silent. "You see, now relax."

He did as he was told, allowing himself to lay back against the rock he closed his eyes and listened to the stream as it flowed quietly passed them.

The vampire had no idea how long the pair laid on that rock but it was certainly dark by the time he opened his eyes. His phone had broken the silence of the forest. Looking down at the screen guilt flooded him as he saw the name flashing. What had he been thinking, shame and anger at his actions started to well up in him but he pushed them down as best as he could as he answered.

"Hello."

"Can you come get me?" Bella's voice seemed angered and he almost worried she knew what he had done.

"Of course, what happened?"

"I punched Jacob," well that threw him off. She adored the boy why would she attempt to hurt him?

"Are you okay?"

"No, he kissed me and now I think I've broken my hand."

He could hear Charlie's voice in the background warning the wolf to leave. "I'll be right there."

Hanging up he moved to run to pick up his car but was stopped by a hand grasping his arm. Turning he noticed Emily was sitting up now her face blank as she watched him. "You may not want to be around others right now."

"Why not?" he demanded.

She gave him a look that said she was unimpressed by his anger. "Your eyes."

"What about them?"

Emily tilted her head as her hand ran across the fresh wound made by his teeth and once again Jasper's red eyes flashed through his mind. "What should I do?"

"It's not so bad, you only took one pull."

Emily summoned a small rock and before his eyes Edward watched as it morphed into a mirror. She wasn't wrong, his eyes were more of an orange color. He could probably explain it away to Bella but his family would know he had somehow consumed a small amount of human blood.

"I can use a glamour on you." Edward raised an eyebrow at the girl before turning to look back at his reflection. "It's a spell. It will only last a few hours though, that's why I don't offer it to Jasper."

Edward weighed his options, a few hours could buy him enough time until Bella was sleeping. Once she was asleep he could sneak out and hunt a few animals. But what about his family, their eyes were much keener than a human's, "Will it fool the family?"

"It will."

Edward nodded his head, waiting for some sort of pain or sensation but nothing came. Emily merely waved her hand dismissively in his direction and his eyes appeared a bright amber. He quickly overcame his shock at the action before handing her back the mirror and darting off into the forest.

He swore he heard a loud crash but he didn't have a moment to look back, he needed to reach Bella as fast as he possibly could so she wouldn't suspect anything.

Picking up Bella had been a headache in and of itself. As he arrived Jacob was showing him images of the earlier kiss or at least what he imagined it to be. Edward could tell Bella looked slightly uncomfortable yet that wasn't what bothered him. His anger flared with each thought from the wolf but it was only due to his lack of internal reaction to the images. He should want to rip the man's head off but was instead worried about the lack of Emily's heartbeat in the house meaning she was still back in the woods.

Pushing Bella into the car he drove quickly towards his home, his eyes flashing into the rearview mirror every few seconds to check on his eyes. Bella for her part seemed to think his anger was born out of jealously and kept running her free hand along his thigh in an attempt to comfort him.

Pulling up to the house Edward ushered the human into the house attempting to make it past Rosalie but no such luck was to be had.

"Trip over air again?" she sneered from her place working on Emmett's Jeep.

"I punched a werewolf," Bella said proudly cradling her hand to her chest.

"Badass!" Emmett said jumping down from where he was perched on one of the higher shelves.

"What are you excited about?" Rosalie sniffed at her husband. "You're going to lose the bet."

"What bet?" Bella asked curiously as Edward pushed her through the door into the hallway. Guiding her towards where he knew Carlisle to be the pair passed Jasper who growled at his brother before disappearing from the room. "Did I do something?"

"He's still struggling, just ignore him." Edward instructed opening the door to Carlisle's study.

"But I don't want to make him uncomfortable."

 _It's too late for that_ , Edward thought, though he was certain his brother's anger was directed at him this time. "You are fine, let Carlisle look at your hand."

He whisper quickly to Carlisle what had happened and the man set to work examining the human. In the process the odd silver bracelet Bella always wore fell off and Edward was shocked when suddenly a new voice entered his mind.

 _Soon I'll be just as beautiful, not even Emily will compare to me. People will look at me like they do her and I'll finally be stronger and faster. No more clumsy Bella…_

And then it stopped. Edward starred at the girl but he noticed Carlisle was reattaching her bracelet. What was going on?

"You never answered my question," Bella said poking Edward with her good hand.

"What question?"

"What bet was Rosalie talking about?"

Edward pinched his nose and sighed this was going to be a long night, maybe he could convince Carlisle to slip her some pain medicine to help ease her to sleep soon.

Jasper ran through the forest following his brother's scent until he stopped at a stream. Being careful not to be seen he climbed up into one the trees to get a better view. Below him he could see Emily lying peacefully on a large rock surround by shards of glass. Her hand appeared to be grasping a shard tightly as blood slowly flowed from her.

He wasn't there long before Emily's eyes flew open and found his. They stared at each other for a moment before the witch turned into wisps of black smoke and vanished from his sight.


	7. Chapter 7

Throughout the night Edward attempted several times to remove the odd bracelet from Bella's wrist but it was as if the girl had known what he was attempting and kept her hand hidden from him. Of course he could have forced the issue but lately Bella seemed rather apt to waking so he finally gave up and went on a short hunt.

After taking down a few deer the vampire found himself standing at the rock where he had been with Emily earlier. The girl was gone but he could still smell her and another scent…

"You should be careful _brother_."

Edward turned facing Jasper who had jumped from where he was perched in a nearby tree. "What do you mean?"

Jasper shook his head as he leapt across the stream to climb up on the large rock. Picking up what looked like a shard of glass he turned it over a few times in his hand. "It only takes one pull to lose oneself."

"How did you know?"

Smirking Jasper stood and tossed the shard to Edward who easily caught it. "Your eyes were a bit too bright tonight." Edward made to speak but Jasper waved away his concern. "No one else would have noticed, I'm simply more familiar with her work. You might want to find some larger game though, magic is far more potent than you can imagine."

As his brother vanished Edward looked down into the broken glass and realized that despite his rather large meal his eyes still had a small tint of orange to them. Slipping the shard into his pocket the vampire glanced off into the distance where he knew the Swan house to be before darting back into the forest hoping for a bit of luck in some larger prey.

When Edward climbed back into his room from the small balcony he quickly glanced over to the mirror on the wall to check that his eyes were a true amber.

"Where have you been?"

Looking toward the bed the vampire realized Bella was propped up on the pillows awake. "I went to check on Jasper."

"Oh," The girl dropped her head and started playing with her bracelet, "maybe you should take me home, I don't want him to have to stay away because of me."

"It's not just because of you," the vampire said ignoring the curious look on the girl's face. Walking over to sit by Bella on the bed Edward decided to take the opportunity and ask something that had been bothering him for the past few hours. "You're always messing with that bracelet, I don't think I've ever seen you without it. Where did you get it?"

"Emily gave it to me."

"I thought you two weren't exactly fond of each other," Edward pressed reaching out to touch the object lightly with his finger.

Bella shrugged, "It's from when we were younger and it has all this cool old writing on it."

"Just seems odd you would wear something she gave you. Do you mind if I see it more closely, perhaps I can recognize the language?"

Edward moved to remove the band from her wrist but the human instantly pulled her arm away from his. "No!" Shaking her head Bella took a breath before looking over at the vampire. "I mean, your eyes are far better than mine I'm sure you can read it from there. Plus I think she said it was Druid or something."

"I see," and he could see, the writing did look as if it was along the lines of ancient runes but he had never studied those cultures in depth and if it had been a gift from the witch his knowledge would probably be incorrect anyway.

Sadly what he really wanted was to test his theory on why he had suddenly heard Bella's thoughts but as that wasn't going to happen for the moment he sighed and looked at the clock. "We should get you back to Charlie, I know he wanted to spend the day with you before graduation."

"Are you going to stay with me?"

Edward shook his head as he moved to leave the room to give the girl a 'human' moment, "I think it better if I just meet you at the ceremony. This is the only time Charlie will get to be with you, we should let him enjoy today."

Nodding Bella looked a bit torn for a moment, as if she wanted to argue with the vampire but instead she climbed off the bed moving towards the bathroom and laughed. "I guess that's fair you'll be there for all the others. He can have today."

"I'll be downstairs," Edward said shutting the door tightly behind him. Leaning back against it he stared up at the ceiling in panic, did he really want there to be more graduation days?

Emily was thankful for the warming charm on her cloak as she slowly made her way toward the clearing in the forest. If anyone saw her they would assume she was from a different time as her fur lined cloak dragged along the ground and the large hood covered her head. It had been awhile since she had been able to dress in this fashion and she missed it, maybe she should take more strolls through the forest as an excuse to dress as she wished.

Stepping into the clearing Emily was just in time to watch as two bodies materialized and fell into a heap. Laughing she lowered her hood, "Always so graceful brother."

The man with shaggy black hair rolled his eyes as he attempted to help his companion up. "We can't all be you."

"I suppose not," the witch shrugged. "But one could remember that a little hop goes a long way."

"We'll do that next time," the woman with pink hair said turning to brush the remaining debris from her backside.

"I'm sure you won't," Emily smirked walking towards the pair. "Did you have safe travels?"

"Besides the landings everything went well," Harry answered wrapping his arm around Nym.

"I think my clumsiness wears off on him."

The woman smiled at the man before pecking his cheek and moving to embrace Emily. Freezing slightly at the action the witch calmed herself and allowed Nym to hug her before pulling back and looking between the two. "Shall we head to the house?"

"Does Dad know we're coming?" Harry asked picking up the suitcase to follow his sister.

"Did you tell him you were coming?"

"No."

Emily turned back to her brother who was looking down at his entwined hand with Nym. The pair had yet to announce their betrothal and the witch wondered if her brother wasn't fearful of their father's reaction. "Then all the more surprised he'll be."

"Emily…"

Turning back to her path Emily lifted her hood to cover her head as she ducked under a branch. "You shouldn't be so afraid, even if he seems upset Father doesn't live in our world. The rules are different and you both have a contract to fulfill."

"Thank you by the way," Nym said being careful not to trip over some of the fallen branches. "If it wasn't for you…"

Emily nodded waving her hand to stop the unnecessary thanks. "I'm simply glad Harry is taking his position seriously."

Though she couldn't see the pair she knew they both were probably rolling their eyes behind her back at her continued formality. In honesty it was hard to drop formalities around anyone especially her brother. Of course that hadn't always been the case, for the first year at Hogwarts Emily had tried to reach out to her brother but with each rejection it became harder to care. She was there for him when his Gryffindor tendencies decided to take over his rational thought but once he was safe she would return to the dungeons as if nothing had ever passed between them.

The group shortly came upon the house and Emily led them all in. Charlie and Bella had already left to take photos at the school before the ceremony later that day. Climbing up the stairs Emily showed the pair to Harry's old room.

Nym looked around and cocked her head to the side, "It's rather plain."

"Not all of us can decorate like you my love," Harry kissed his fiancé before moving to set down his bag at the foot of the bed.

Shrugging Nym looked to Emily and smiled, "So where do we sleep?"

"Don't you usually sleep with him?"

The metamorph blushed, her hair turning a slightly darker shade at the remark. "Well yes but Harry said your Dad might not like it and that then your sister would be stuck on the couch or something…"

"Bella isn't going to be happy either way," Emily said leaning back against the wall. "Her vampire stays in here with her as she sleeps every night."

"Vampire?" Harry said looking alarmed at Emily.

Smirking Emily shook her head, "My, my, aren't we all going to be full of surprises for each other today."

"This is not the same. You are letting her date a vampire?!" Harry's temper was beginning to set in but for her part Emily simply shrugged.

"He's a 'veggie' vamp," Emily offered though she appeared to be more interested in examining her fingernails. "Hardly a danger."

"Hardly a danger?! Merlin's beard, he's a vampire! What he uses as a food source doesn't change that fact! And Bella is human, you know this can't end well!"

"I know," Emily said finally looking her brother in the eye.

"You're enjoying this!" he accused and Emily did nothing to deny it. There was no love between the witch and the muggle and she couldn't deny that watching Bella fall would bring her great amusement. "You of all people should know what vampires are like, you were sleeping with one all last year!"

"Who I choose to bed and what company I keep is none of your business."

"Maybe not, but you can protect yourself! Who is going to protect Bella?"

Emily pushed herself away from the wall and made to leave the room already tired of the conversation at hand, "I'm not the twin with the hero complex."

"No you're just the snake," Harry whispered under his breath but Emily heard it none the less. Leaving the room she headed for the reprieve of her own bedroom.

Nym glared at her fiancé, "Do you always have to fight with her?" Lowering her voice she looked out the door making sure Emily wasn't waiting for her before turning her gaze back to Harry, "Yeah Em's a bit dark but she never betrayed us. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't even be allowed to get married. You jump off the broomstick without knowing everything, Em has been here for weeks maybe she knows a few things we don't."

Without another word the metamorph turned from the room and followed after where she hoped Emily had gone. The other witch had kindly left her door open and Nym walked in to find her sorting through her wardrobe.

"I'm sorry about Harry…" she began.

"Don't be," Emily smiled back at her. "I'm fine. Now come, we need to get to the high school or my Father will have our heads for missing the graduation. He only gets to do this once."

"Seems odd to have a big ceremony for finishing school," Nym said moving to look in the wardrobe with Emily. "Dad always said his parents were so disappointed that there wasn't a graduation for Hogwarts but I don't really see the point."

"I'm sure you had a little party when you got home after seventh year."

"I guess, Mum despite what she says is rather traditional. We had a nice meal, she gave me a gift for my auror training, Dad made a few cheesy toasts through dinner and that was that."

"Well it's more than our Father can do for us, Harry and I will never finish school."

"Does that bother you?"

"No, I had planned to finish early anyways back when…" Emily paused as images of William played through her mind. Everything had been so wonderful then. On paper he was the perfect match, a man without a title who could take on hers, who was a well respected Curse Breaker, he had no previous contract and was quite handsome. But it wasn't to be, just as they worked on a final draft of the contract he had halted the negotiations. He had fallen for someone else, while Emily had been planning to take her NEWTs he had been seeing the French Veela Fleur who had moved to Britain simply to work _under_ the man at Gringotts.

Nym nodded in understanding. She remembered the day she had found Bill tangled up with that tart Fleur. Being an old friend she had taken him aside and warned him against what he was doing but he had insisted. It had been a row the two friends never really recovered from. "So… can I borrow a dress?" Nym asked deciding to change the topic. "Harry might have forgotten to mention having to dress up until we were about to portkey here from MACUSA."

"Of course he did," pulling out a more modern looking dress Emily handed it to the metamorph before grabbing a dark green formfitting dress for herself. "The sooner we get ready the closer we are to being done with this whole charade."

"You really don't like your sister do you?"

"I don't like muggles," Emily quipped before making her way into the bathroom. The metamorph sighed as she set about getting herself ready, she had a father-in-law to meet shortly.

"I can't believe you can drive!" Nym was obviously shocked as the small group pulled into the Fork's High School parking lot.

"Your father didn't teach you?" Emily asked.

"No, he never saw the point. He rarely had a need to drive himself, if we wanted to go anywhere all we had to do was apparate."

"Well, don't feel bad, Harry doesn't know how to drive either."

"Really then how do you know?"

"William," Emily answered as she exited the car and waited for the others to do the same. The pair seemed unsure of what to say to her so the group quietly followed the signs leading guests towards the gym.

Once inside it was rather easy to find Charlie, he was awkwardly standing by five seemingly perfect beings. Emily also noticed the rather annoyed looking Blacks who stood beside Charlie shooting glares at the others gathered with him.

"Father," Emily greeted kissing the man on the cheek. "I found some strays."

Looking behind his daughter Charlie's face lit up as he moved to embrace his son. "Harry!"

While the two men had a moment Emily noticed Jasper seemed rather uncomfortable. She had no doubt he would rather be anywhere but stuck in a gymnasium with so many humans. Pointing her hand in his direction she mumbled off an old spell she knew doctors used to sometimes dull the senses of their patients. It seemed to work as his shoulders became less tense and after a moment of confusion he nodded slightly in her direction.

"Dad, this is Nymphadora," Harry announced drawing Emily's attention back to the new couple.

Charlie offered his hand to the woman but ever the lover the methamorphmagus jumped in and hugged the man before stepping back with a blush on her face. Thank the Goddess the girl's hair didn't change color but Emily assumed that had something to do with Harry as she noticed him flick his wrist.

Chuckling Charlie patted the girl on the shoulder to let her know she hadn't made a mistake, "It's nice to meet you Nymphadora."

"She prefers, Dora or Tonks usually," Harry cut in. Emily could see he was worried that whatever spell he cast might be overridden by her emotions at hearing her given name too much.

"Tonks, as in Andi and Ted Tonks?"

"Those are my parents."

"How are they doing? Last time I saw them was when I was collecting these two," Charlie said pointing between the twins. "You must have been eight or nine at the time."

"They are…" Emily noticed Nym begin to struggle as did Harry who put his arm around her and pulled her into his side.

"Perhaps we should find seats," Emily suggested moving to take her father's arm as she gave him a look that clearly told him he had asked the wrong question.

"Yeah we probably should," he nodded though his look told Emily he expected an answer later.

The ceremony itself was rather short and dull. Kids spoke on their sadness, leaving behind their friends to pursue their futures in various colleges and teachers spoke on the children remembering all the lessons they were taught before finally one by one the students walked across the stage to shake the principal's hand and receive a piece of paper. Charlie and the Blacks cheered loudly when it was Bella's turn while Harry and Nym politely clapped and Emily couldn't have been more uninterested.

After the whole ordeal was over Emily was happy to note that the Blacks quickly left before Bella could even make it over to the large group that awaited her and Edward.

"Who's that and why is he staring at you?" Nym whispered into the other witch's ear.

Emily felt a push against her mental barrier and didn't even need to look up to know who was watching her. "That would be Edward, he's Bella's boyfriend."

"Oh, then why does he keep looking over at you?"

Shrugging Emily started to walk towards the door, "Who knows. I'll be outside waiting."

As she exited the building she heard a shriek and knew Bella had noticed Harry's presence. Shaking her head she wandered over to where there was a bench and decided to wait for the others to finish their chatter, she needed some fresh air before she was forced to sit with everyone at dinner.

"Not enjoying yourself?"

The witch scoffed as Jasper sat down next to her. "Shouldn't you be celebrating your mate's achievement?"

"She dashed off after getting her diploma, she's rather excited about the party she's hosting tonight."

"Lucky you, more humans."

Jasper didn't reply he merely nodded and put his arm around the back of the bench behind the witch. The pair sat quietly until the large group finally came out of the gym. Jasper sighed and with once last glance at Emily he moved to join his family, save Edward, who were climbing into the two vehicles they had driven.

"We're going to the diner to eat," Charlie said approaching his daughter. "Did you want to join us?"

Emily was surprised the man offered her a choice but then again with Harry home and Bella's graduation he was overjoyed. Not wanting to ruin his day Emily smiled and nodded her head, "I'd love to."

That earned a chuckle from the man, "I'm sure." Kissing the side of her head the man motioned to the rest of the group to head out.

As Emily pulled out of the parking lot Nym who had called 'shot gun' was staring at her as if she had been fighting with herself on whether to speak. "I can tell your hair is cycling under that spell, out with it already."

"Was that Jasper?"

"It was."

"What's he doing here?"

"He is part of the Cullen coven," Emily answered staring straight ahead at the road.

"Is that why you aren't concerned about her boyfriend?"

Catching Harry's eyes in her rearview mirror Emily smirked, "It's all the more reason to be concerned."

"Why, you obviously trust Jasper?" Nym interjected, for her part she knew the vampire had made her friend happy through a really dark time in all their lives. Sure the guy had vanished but if he was in Forks, well that just couldn't be a coincidence.

"Trusted," Emily corrected.

Nym glanced back briefly to Harry who shook his head very slightly, taking the hint the metamorph leaned back in her seat and changed the topic.

The diner was rather packed that afternoon since it was the only restaurant in the small town. Their group was seated in the far corner and Emily couldn't help smirking as Edward tried to hide his distaste at being dragged to dinner with the rest of them. According to Nym the girl had practically begged him after the ceremony to join the family and feeling trapped the man had caved. It was also rather funny that the vampire was forced to sit in the back seat of her father's cruiser since Bella insisted he ride with her.

The beginning of dinner was rather light as the group discussed meal options and remarked on the nice ceremony though only Charlie seemed to truly care.

"How long are you staying?" Bella asked Harry once the waitress had taken everyone's order.

"A week or two, we can't be gone for too long," Harry answered looking at his partner.

"Why not?" Charlie said taking a sip of his beer. "Em's been here for a few weeks, if she can be here surely you can too."

"Emily's not exactly in the same position."

Emily reached forward and tapped her glass turning the liquid in her mug to wine. She had a feeling this was about to get interesting and she might as well enjoy herself.

"What do you mean?"

"We both work for the Ministry and as you've most likely heard we're short on staff as it is right now. There's also the issue of not having someone to stand in for my votes and the fact that we have an announcement we have to make by the end of next month amongst the other Lords…"

"Uh huh what kind of announcement?" Charlie prompted easily catching the most important part of Harry's rambling excuses.

Harry reached down and took Nym's hand as his other hand nervously scratched the back of his neck. "I recently offered a contract for Dora's hand and her family has accepted."

"You're getting married?" Bella was the first to break the shock that seemed to be running through her and her father.

"Yeah," Harry smiled though Emily could tell he was nervous, he was waiting for their Father to say something.

"Wow," Charlie said running a hand over his mouth. "You're so young."

Emily kicked her father lightly under the table, while she enjoyed watching her brother be so uncomfortable she didn't want them to start fighting over something that couldn't be changed. Harry had made a decision, a good one for once in Emily's opinion and her father was going to have to learn to live with it.

"I mean it's great, don't get me wrong but you two are young."

Harry shrugged, "It's not _Forks_ Dad."

"I know," Charlie sighed. "I'm sorry, this is good. Just all of you are growing up. It's hard on this old man."

"You could always move to London," Harry said putting his arm around the back of Nym's chair. "I'm sure we could find you a lake to fish on and a place for your TV."

"You'd be close to the grandkids," Nym added. The metamorph blushed once she realized Charlie's eyes had gone wide at her statement. "I mean when we have them. Not right now. Not that I don't want kids I do, we do. It's even in the contract..."

Seeing his fiance's panic Harry laughed and shook his head, "He gets it." Nym huffed shooting a glare at Harry for laughing at her.

"So how did you two meet?" Edward asked politely obviously deciding to help out the other man before Nym had a chance to get mad at the wizard.

Taking a sip of her wine Emily wondered how Harry would answer that one. The pair had met before the twins' fifth year. The two Potters had been forced back to London early due to intelligence leading Dumbledore to believe their location's secrecy had been compromised and they were quickly moved to stay at Order headquarters which was protected by the Fidelius. The metamorphmagus had also been frequently crashing there after her long shifts between Auror and Order duties. The two had flirted endlessly but it wasn't until the twins' sixth year that the couple ever acted on their feelings.

"I was fifteen," Harry started, pausing briefly to thank the waitress as she started to serve everyone their dinner. "Dora was staying with her cousin Sirius who was my Godfather. Our paths started to cross quite a bit then but nothing really happened until the next year."

"Took him long enough to take a hint," Nym teased leaning over to bump shoulders with the wizard.

"Have you set a date?" Charlie asked as he cut into his steak.

"The fall."

"James and Lily married in the fall."

Harry smiled at the reminder of his parents and the conversation died down as everyone dug into their meals, well almost everyone, Edward played with his food a bit and Emily was certain he had disposed of some of it when he excused himself to go to the restroom at one point. The other person not eating was Bella, the girl seemed troubled about something as her eyes would dart from Edward to her brother and his fiancé.

Once the group had finished their meals and paid they walked out towards their cars.

"You guys should come to the party," Bella insisted pulling on Harry's hand as they got close to the cruiser.

"We don't want to intrude," Harry hesitated not sure if it was a good idea.

"Please, I hate these things! I need you there to keep me company."

"Isn't that what this guy is for?" Harry asked pointing at the vampire.

"Please, just come," the girl insisted shaking her head at her brother. He turned to Nym who nodded an okay before nodding in agreement himself.

Laughing at the group as they all crammed into the cruiser Emily smirked and offered a wave to the vampire who kept glancing in her direction as she pulled away from the diner.

Once home the witch headed straight to her room and changed into a slip before lying back on her bed to read. It didn't take long before she heard footsteps outside her door and then a hesitant knock.

"Come in."

Her father poked his head around the door, seeing she was merely relaxing he came in and sat on her bed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't my news to share," Emily answered setting down her book.

"But you're the one that approved it, you've known for a while."

Slightly shocked that her father had already put the pieces together Emily sighed, "He came to me one of the nights I was staying at his camp. He confessed what I already knew, that if he survived he wanted to take her as his wife."

"So you made it happen," kicking off his shoes Charlie moved to lean back against the headboard next to his daughter. "I won't lie and say I'm not surprised, you both have been good at keeping secrets this past year it seems."

"This was never meant to be a secret for long. We just had to be sure that I could accept her back into the House. It's not a simple task and I think her metamorphmagus trait is what saved her, she almost was rejected by the family magic and then it wouldn't have mattered because the best she could hope to be would be his mistress."

"Your world is rather backwards Kiddo."

"And yours is filled with nosey muggles."

Chuckling Charlie wrapped his arm around Emily and kissed her head as she laid it on his shoulder. "I guess I'm just not ready for all these changes."

"Harry isn't wrong Dad, we could find you something in London or the countryside. You don't have to be in Forks all alone."

"I'm not alone Kiddo, I have the guys down on the res and your sister is here."

Emily sighed she didn't want to point out to the man that his human daughter seemed to have a death wish. At her current rate the girl wouldn't live much longer and she certainly wouldn't survive if one of the vampires tried to turn her.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened to Andi and Ted?" Charlie asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Ted was killed shortly before the final battle. We don't know too many details other than he had been captured and likely tortured for being a muggleborn after being on the run for months."

"And Andi?"

"On one hand she's angry because Ted disappeared in the middle of the night when she was sleeping, he didn't want her to be implicated should they show up at the house looking for him. In his mind I think he thought it was a protection, she could honestly say she had no idea where he had gone and it could be proven under veritaserum. Andi is a Pureblood though and so even if she was found guilty of helping her husband I have little doubt she would have been spared in some way."

"I doubt at that point she would want to be spared."

"Fair, but I think it's just a feeling of broken trust. That shred of doubt that maybe he didn't trust her enough, that possibly it wasn't just to protect her."

"Ted loved Andi, I think he always felt like he owed her the world because she gave up everything to be with him. It's hard for her to see it now but it sounds like it was his turn to make a sacrifice for her."

"Either way she's pretty heartbroken from what I've heard. I've only seen her a few times, she started coming around the Manor just days after the battle. Her and Cissa are starting to rebuild their relationship, only took a few decades and two wars to get them in the same room but they are all that is left of the Blacks."

"Besides you."

"Well yes, besides me."

Shaking his head Charlie pulled Emily into him tighter, "I love you Kiddo."

"I love you too, Dad."


	8. Chapter 8

A few hours later Charlie had moved downstairs to watch his TV and await the others return while Emily had returned to her reading. The book was rather fascinating to read, it was a mix between spells and a log of specific events Salazar Slytherin faced while helping to build Hogwarts. The witch had always been fascinated by history especially the people who were depicted mostly by those around them. For centuries people portrayed Salazar as a Dark Lord who was forced to leave the castle after he continued to clash with the other founders on topics such as muggles but through reading his own writings she could clearly see that history had been wrong.

The more she read the more she came to see the true villain, or at least Salazar's villain, as Godric Gryffindor, a brash man who had vast wealth and a cocky manner. He touted his inability to think before acting as bravery and it seemed most people were willing to believe the best of him. Unfortunately for Salazar by choosing to leave he left the hands of his legacy in England to a man who hated him. She wondered how the man was perceived in other parts of the world, in his writings it seemed he made frequent visits to Egypt.

If things had gone differently she could have asked William that question as he had spent most of the beginning of his career in the tombs of Egypt. Perhaps she could reach out to William's brother, Charlie in Romania, he had always had a soft spot for her and likely knew of the legends abroad from his many travels.

Deciding she had enough reading for the night Emily set down her book and moved to run herself a bath. Once submerged in the warm water the witch leaned back and closed her eyes enjoying the silence that surrounded her. For years it felt like she rarely had a moment to herself and since being back it was moments like this that she truly enjoyed. Even at the manor Draco would burst into her rooms and sit in her bathroom as she attempted to relax yammering on about some random topic.

After a few minutes a smile crept across Emily's face as she felt a hand come to rest on her neck.

"You really shouldn't leave your window open," a deep voice breathed into her ear. She could feel the ice cold face pressed against the side of hers but his hand was keeping her from turning her head to look at him.

"Why is that?"

"You never know just what kind of monster might be lurking out there, just waiting for an opportunity…" his hand moved to push her hair aside as his lips trailed down her throat his teeth grazing across her skin.

"I think I have an idea."

Chuckling he bit down, his teeth breaking open the healed skin as he took a deep pull of her blood. Emily's hand reached up behind her, intertwining into the blonde locks in an attempt to keep his head where she wanted it but he was far stronger than her.

The vampire licked the fresh wound before kissing his way up behind the witch's ear, one of his hands trailed down her skin into the water.

"Jasper don't tease me," she begged of him.

Smirking he ignored her pleas for a few minutes as he enjoyed watching her writhe under his ministrations. Just before she could come undone he pulled away to remove his clothes, once bare he lifted the witch up and slid into the tub behind her making sure to align her carefully before allowing her to settle down onto his lap.

The pair moved slowly at first, Jasper's hands holding tightly to the witch guiding her with each movement. As they sped up Emily's back arched and her head tilted back moaning out for her release. When it finally came Jasper leaned forward and took one more pull of Emily's blood.

The pair allowed their bodies to relax as Jasper lifted the witch up off of him to move her legs to stretch out and be in a more comfortable position before setting her back down. Their fingers intertwined as Jasper wrapped their arms around her and pulled Emily tightly against his chest, her head resting in the crook of his neck.

"Did you tire of the humans?" Emily mumbled.

Keeping his eyes closed Jasper let go of one of her hands and reached up to stroke Emily's hair, "A few shifters showed up and I couldn't be bothered to stay any longer."

"Bella invited them?"

"She did."

Shaking her head the witch couldn't understand how the human could be so stupid. Did she truly expect the vampires and shifters to get along and play nice with one another?

After a few minutes of quiet Jasper lifted Emily and climbed out of the now cooling tub. Setting her on the counter he moved to drain the bath and grab two towels to dry the pair off with. Once dry he carried Emily to the bed and climbed in with the witch who draped herself across his chest and slowly drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't long before the vampire could hear his phone ringing from the bathroom. Looking down at the sleeping witch he wondered if he should answer it. Deciding against it he closed his eyes and tried to focus on Emily's calming emotions only for the phone to go off again. When his phone started to ring for the third time he sighed and carefully slipped from the bed without disturbing the woman in it.

"What," Jasper quietly snarled.

"We are having a meeting with the pack at 3 am."

"Wonderful, enjoy."

"Jasper," the voice sounded annoyed. "We need you there."

"Why?"

"Alice had another vision, the army will be here in a matter of days. Going to Seattle is out of the question now and with the wolves Alice thinks we have a chance."

"I still don't see why I need to be there for this meeting."

"You have insight the rest of us don't, we need you to help us plan an attack."

"Do you know how many newborns there are?"

"Alice said twenty-one but the numbers are going down."

That made sense to Jasper, the newborns being untrained and with someone inexperienced leading them they would continue to fight amongst themselves causing their numbers to fall as the group moved toward Forks. "And do we have a reason for them coming?"

"They were passing around Bella's scent."

"Then place the human in the middle of the field we play baseball in, as the newborns run frantically for her pick them off one by one. With the wolves helping it should be easy pickings." There was a snarl from the other end of the line and Jasper smirked. "What? I thought with your recent activities you might have changed your mind about the human, guess not."

"You have no idea what I'm going through!"

"J what are you doing?" the vampire turned to see Emily yawn as she leaned against the doorframe.

Walking to the witch he kissed her head, "Go back to bed, I'll be right there I just need to finish this call."

Nodding sleepily the witch obeyed which surprised the old soldier, perhaps she was more worn out than he expected. Alone once again he dropped his voice even lower hoping not to bother Emily further, "Edward, I don't care what you decide but stop pulling me into this. I don't care whether the girl lives or dies surely you have realized that by now."

"It's not just about Bella anymore, they could attack the town which would give the Volturi cause to end us all."

"You are overreacting brother. Perhaps if you took more time to talk to the women you sleep with, you would understand better." Another snarl came through the phone and Jasper couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. "Goodnight Edward."

Hanging up the phone the vampire slipped back into the bed wrapping his arm around the witch and pulling her body back into his. She felt a touch warm but he ignored it and closed his eyes focusing on her breathing as a way to lull himself into his own version of 'sleep'.

As Edward heard the click he suppressed the urge to toss and break his phone. He had heard Emily clearly in the background and while he had known that was a possibility something inside of him was furious at the reality of knowing where his brother had slipped off to while everyone was focused on the arrival of the wolves.

"Is he coming?" Bella whispered as she approached her boyfriend who had run off into the trees to make the call.

Staring down at the phone Edward struggled not to crush the device at the sound of the approaching human who was no doubt stumbling over the various fallen branches and rocks. "I couldn't reach him," he lied attempting to force his body to relax.

"Maybe the party was too much of us to ask of him," Bella said coming to stroke the vampire's arm as she finally reached his side. She obviously suspected his anger was geared toward the impending danger and not that his brother was likely tangled up with her sister in bed at this very moment. "He looked really uncomfortable and Alice was so busy talking to everyone."

Nodding Edward wanted to shove the girl away and stop her touching him but he instantly felt guilty about the thought. Running a hand through his hair he let out a sigh and pulled the human slightly into his side, "Is your brother still here?"

"He was catching up with Jake for a bit but most of our class had already taken off so he and Dora decided to go home too. Emmett offered to drive them."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"You can't leave me behind," the girl said crossing her arms as she took a step out of Edward's reach.

"Bella," he sighed. "You're barely standing on your feet."

The girl tried to stifle a yawn as she ducked her head. "I want to come to the meeting and if you won't take me I'll call Jake."

It briefly occurred to him to let the mutt take her and have to worry for her safety for the night when his mind flashed to an image of Emily and his brother. "Fine you can come."

The girl blushed obviously feeling a touch guilty for threatening him before she smiled at her small victory and attempted to pull him back towards the house.

A few hours had passed and Jasper was beginning to get worried. Emily had started to become restless as she slept which was rather unusual for her. Unlike her brother who was known through the camps to suffer nightmares Emily never had such problems, she was a master of occlumency which helped her to close off her mind and have relatively light dreams if any at all while she slept.

"Darlin'," he tried whispering as he lightly shook her but it did no good, she pressed against his hands as if to shove him away.

"It hurts."

"What does? Darlin' I need you to open your eyes."

She shook her head, "Get me out of the house!"

Obeying without a second thought Jasper cradled the witch in his arms and jumped out of her window running off deep into the woods. Finding a small clearing tucked far away from civilization he set her down and attempted to soothe her. In all their time together he had never seen her so distressed, even the night she had been severely wounded by several curses she had somehow remained calm as she took various potions and Severus fussed over her wounds.

"What do you need?"

"My magic…"

"I don't understand, Darlin'."

"It's my magic, my body is still changing…" she forced out.

It suddenly clicked what was happening, this was part of the repercussions for the power she now held. When they had accomplished their task they had isolated themselves expecting a larger more magical reaction to their achievement but instead nothing had happened. They had been surprised but with nothing but legends to judge what might come for the witch they had wanted to take precautions. After a few days with some random spurts of magical rushes the two had decided that perhaps nothing was ever meant to happen and had rejoined the others back at camp.

Emily's body contorted, her back arching up as pain coursed through her veins. Jasper could see they had been wrong her change if that's what it could even be called would be drawn out. He thought back to the day they had decided to rejoin the camp…

 _The air was cold and he could see Emily's breath as she smiled back at him. There was snow still on the ground and she was wrapped in one of her fur lined cloaks._

" _How anticlimactic," he said taking her hand as they walked through the woods._

 _Shrugging she reached down and trailed her hands through the white snow before straightening herself back up, "For now."_

" _If you think we should wait a few more days…" Jasper stopped walking and looked back in the direction they had come._

 _Shaking her head she pulled him towards her as her free hand came up and guided him to look at her, "There isn't any more time to spare. I'm fine."_

" _But surely something is meant to happen, when I went through my change I burned for three days."_

" _This is different, I'm not a human nor becoming a vampire." She rubbed her thumb across his cheek with such care that he closed his eyes and focused on her emotions she didn't seem worried simply content and somehow happy._

" _I just worry Darlin'."_

" _I know," she admitted her hand moving from his cheek to fix a small hair that had fallen free from the knot he had tied his hair in. "And rightfully so." His eyes opened at her words. "Nothing in this life comes without a cost, there must always be a price for your gains."_

" _Then let's stay here," a sharp pain shot through his chest and he knew his days were getting numbered. Selfishly he wanted to stay, so whatever time he had left with her was shared between them but the look she gave him told him this wasn't an argument he could win._

Watching as Emily reached out and held onto his hand Jasper wondered now if this hadn't happened before. How many times had she gone through this since that day, how many times did she suffer alone? Guilt ran through him for having left, for constantly being pulled away from her.

Without warning Emily's teeth unclenched and she released an unnatural scream as magic flared out from her and formed a purple dome around the clearing. The magic made the air so thick that he was certain that had he needed to breathe he would have suffocated.

The dome pulsed several times and Jasper watched as the magic seemed to darken with each beat until it appeared almost solid. Time seemed to freeze around him as everything including Emily stopped moving. All of a sudden he heard Emily take a breath and collapse, the dome bursting with the action. Slowly the magic began to recede and the air thinned back to normal.

Bella fell asleep as Edward ran toward her house after the meeting with the wolves. It had been an eye opening experience for the vampire, the pack had been holding back from them but now their secrets were laid bare before him. It was fascinating to see how they struggled between their personal mind and the combined mentality of the pack. There was no hiding from anyone despite some of their best efforts.

Bella squirmed a little bit and her hand clenched on to his jacket instinctively. It had been decided that the human would be kept away from the fighting with one of the younger members of the pack, Seth Clearwater. She wasn't happy about the arrangement and Alice had warned him that she had been contemplating ways to be at the fight, obviously she had no sense of danger.

The vampire was careful as he climbed through the bedroom window knowing Harry was currently sleeping. He was surprised to find that the once queen bed that took up most of the room was replaced by two twin beds but supposed it was done by magic. Laying Bella in the empty bed he quickly made his escape back out into the night before the wizard could notice him.

Edward made it just slightly inside the tree line when he saw movement up ahead. Making a snap decision he climbed up one of the trees and watched the figure draw closer. It soon became clear it was his brother, quite naked holding an equally naked Emily in his arms. The witch clung to the other vampire tightly and anger started to build inside of Edward at the sight. Jumping down from his place he took off before the pair could notice his presence.

Jasper softly landed in the witch's room and moved towards the bathroom to help clean the witch who was covered in sweat and dirt.

"Is everything okay?" a voice mumbled. Briefly looking over Jasper noticed Nym was lying in a small bed she must have created for herself a few feet away from Emily's.

"Fine, we just got a little carried away…"

Nym nodded and waved at the pair sleepily, "Just remember silencing wards and we're golden."

"Sure thing."

Closing the door behind him Jasper grabbed a towel and laid it out on the cold floor before setting Emily on top of it.

"J…"

"I'm here," he answered as he turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm to just the right temperature. Once it was hot enough he leaned down and picked Emily up carrying her under the warm spray. "I need you to stand for me for just a second, okay Darlin'?"

The witch nodded her head and used the vampire's body to keep herself upright as he moved to wash her. Jasper moved quickly knowing she had little strength at the moment but he wanted to get them both clean and dry.

Tossing the now dirty washcloth on the floor of the shower to be dealt with later he reached to turn off the water and pulled Emily back into his arms. "Grab onto the counter," he instructed the witch as he moved to grab a clean towel to dry them off with. He wished he could perform magic as he tied her wet hair in an odd bun on her head, he knew how much she hated having wet hair while lying in bed but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.

Carrying her back to the bed he laid Emily down and crawled in after her. With her last ounce of energy Emily curled into the vampire who protectively wrapped his arms around her as she drifted off to sleep.

Jasper spent the next day in bed holding Emily as she continued to sleep.

Nym had rolled her eyes at the pair when she had discovered them still in bed after eating her breakfast. "Merlin you two must have really gotten carried away, Em never sleeps in!"

Jasper shot the girl a smirk, "I have that effect."

"Cocky vampire," the woman mumbled her hair turning a darker shade of pink at his answering laugh. Pretending she hadn't forgotten about vampires' improved hearing skills her hair turned back to its normal pink as she shifted through a small pile of clothes she had on her bed. "Harry is insisting we go on a hike, I was going to invite you guys but I guess the answer is no."

"Some other time," Jasper answered running his hand along the witch's back.

"Sure," moving towards the bathroom to change in private the metamorphmagus had turned around to briefly look at the vampire. "You two should have the house today. Charlie already left for work and Edward is waiting for Bella to get ready before they head off to your family's house."

"Thanks."

Nodding the witch vanished into the bathroom.

It was a few hours later when Jasper's phone went off, looking down Emily barely stirred at the noise. Sighing he reached over to where it was lying on the nightstand. "Hello."

"Jazzman where are you?"

Jasper wanted to hit himself for not looking before he answered, "I'm out."

A booming laugh could be heard on the other end of the line, "I know that man but where? Eddie says he can't get ahold of you and Alice can't see you. She's all worried right now because the wolves are interfering with her visions."

Edward hadn't told them they had spoken last night, how odd. "Oh, why are they doing that?" he asked trying to play along.

"They agreed to help us with the newborns. We expect them in two days man we need you!"

"What are their numbers?"

"The wolves or the newborns?"

"Both."

"Ten wolves, nineteen newbies."

"It's almost evenly matched then…"

"Except Eddie is sitting out now and without you around that puts us down four bodies."

"Edward isn't going to fight?"

There was a pause and a huff from the other end of the line, "Alice saw her lost and wandering through the woods this morning and told him. Eddie confronted Bella and she admitted to planning on trying to get to the field after she had been left with one of the mutts. He panicked and doesn't want Bella involved so they agreed on going to hide up in the mountainside to protect her. You know how he gets about her."

"True."

"I know things haven't been great lately and with having a human around you've been uncomfortable. I told them forcing you to go to the party would be too much…"

"It's not your fault, don't apologize Em."

"But I feel bad and we really need you. You should have seen us last night, we're a mess man!"

Jasper was surprised to hear his brother admit he needed help. Emmett was always so certain of himself, always ready for a good fight but he was right he had never actually had to fight another vampire outside the brotherly wrestling matches they often had to blow off some steam, he probably did need his help.

"J…" Emily mumbled snuggling in deeper to the vampire's chest.

"Who was that?" Emmett asked not missing a beat.

"Em are you meeting the wolves today?"

"Yeah around seven at the clearing where we play ball."

"Okay I'll be there."

"Great!"

Before the vampire could say another word Jasper hung up the phone and tossed it back onto the nightstand in frustration.

It was about six o'clock before Emily finally started to rouse from her sleep. Harry and Nym had gone to Port Angeles with Charlie for dinner and Jasper supposed Bella was still with Edward.

"I feel like the knight bus ran me over," she grumbled rubbing her eyes.

"You were in a lot of pain."

Nodding the girl yawned before cuddling back into the vampire's cold chest, "It's gotten worse."

"So it's happened before."

"Just twice, both times Mipsy was able to get me out of the manor before anyone noticed."

Sighing Jasper kissed the top of Emily's head and held onto her a bit tighter, he felt so guilty that she was facing all of this alone. "Do you think it's done now? Three is one of the magically strong numbers right?"

"So is seven."

His phone buzzed and Jasper checked the screen to see it was a text:

 _Heading to the meet up. See you soon bro._

"Are you going to be okay if I step out for a short while?" he asked looking down at the witch.

Emily for her part sighed, her emotions seeming to vanish to a mere acceptance as she push herself away from him onto her back, "I always am."

"It's just for a few hours."

"You don't need to explain yourself to me, go I'll be fine."

He wanted to explain but knew the witch didn't care to hear it as she had already summoned a book and was adjusting herself to be more comfortable. Getting up he gathered his clothes and dressed, "I'll be back soon." Hesitating he realized he couldn't leave just yet, "Can you fix my eyes?"

The witch merely nodded that she had heard him, not bothering to look up from her reading. Angry at himself for answering his phone earlier Jasper jumped out of the window and set off to meet up with his family trusting that despite being upset with him Emily had used a glamour to fix his little eye problem.

Reaching the clearing Jasper could see everyone else had already arrived. Alice gave him a smile before skipping off towards where Bella stood next to one of the wolves. Obviously she wasn't as worried about him as the others thought but then again that had always been their relationship, there was far more distance between them than anyone expected.

"Jazzman! You came," Emmett walked over to greet him. "Did you just hunt?"

Jasper merely raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"Your eyes," Edward pointed out joining the pair, Jasper could feel the disgust and anger growing in the young vampire. "They are far brighter than I've ever seen them."

Shrugging Jasper surveyed the wolves that were present, "I needed a distraction after last night."

"I'm sure you found it," Edward sneered.

Emmett stared between his brothers, he knew something was off but he wasn't sure what.

"Shall we?" Jasper asked pointing towards the center of the clearing. "I'd like to be done with this as quickly as possible."

"In a rush?"

"Yes, I am." Jasper answered brushing past Edward as he moved to call attention and begin the training.

The few hours that followed were rather boring for Jasper. It was clear to him that the wolves and his family were poor fighters. The only one who seemed to have an edge was Edward and while Emmett kept equating it to the vampire's ability to read minds Jasper knew it was due to the fact that unlike the others he knew what it was like to give in completely to the monster.

After a few quick goodbyes he set off back into the woods wanting to get to Emily, he was worried about her being alone after last night. It only took him a few seconds though to realize he was being followed. Running off to make sure he was out of range of the others he stopped and waited for his brother to appear.

"You're going back to her?" Edward snarled.

"I am."

"Your family needs you right now!"

"Emily needs me right now." Edward roared and all Jasper could do was smirk. "Have I hit a nerve brother? You know you could come back with me if you really wanted to."

Edward's eye glanced back in the direction they had come from.

"Right the human, how is that going for you?"

"Fine," Edward bit out.

"Wonderful, then why are you following me? Shouldn't you be back making sure she doesn't trip over her own feet?"

Edward seemed torn and Jasper could feel the warring emotions emanating from the man. He felt slightly bad for him but at the same time it was his own idiocy that brought the human into their lives and his odd sense of honor that kept him with the girl.

Without warning Edward lashed out and punched a whole into the nearest tree before taking off running back towards the field.

Shaking his head Jasper turned and ran as fast as he could towards the Swan's residence. Thankfully Emily's window was still open when he got back and he swiftly jumped through it landing softly on his feet. Emily was tucked back asleep in the bed, her book lying closed next her. Jasper doubted she had read much before she had drifted back off to sleep.

Listening he could hear the three other heartbeats in the house and despite it he decided to slip downstairs into the kitchen. Opening the fridge he rummaged through the box that still sloppily read 'Mistress Emily'. Her elves really were something else, how they managed to still take care of her in a small way from such a distance was a small miracle.

"Is she okay?" a worried voice asked.

Looking over Jasper noticed Charlie had entered the room, "She's just tired, I thought I'd bring her something to eat."

Charlie gave the vampire a skeptical look but let the topic drop, "Do you need help putting something together?"

"I think I've got it," he said pulling out some various ingredients trying to remember things the elves had made that the witch seemed to like. Moving to the oven he flipped on the broiler and then grabbed a cookie sheet.

"You seem to know my daughter well."

"We spent most of the last year together," Jasper answered slicing up the French bread that was marked 'Em's' on the counter.

"I see." The Police Chief took a sip of his fresh beer and leaned against the counter. "Aren't you mated to Alice?"

"I am."

"But you're sleeping with my daughter?"

"I am," Jasper didn't deny it, there was no point, the man had walked in on the mess they had created their first night reunited.

"Hmm." The pair were silent for a few minutes before Charlie decided to speak again as Jasper removed the bread from the oven and turned it off. "I'm told your family is going on one of its 'hunting' trips the next two days."

"Perhaps they are tomorrow but we don't need days to hunt," the vampire offered as he spread goat cheese along the now toasted bread. Cutting a few slices of avocado he added those and then a thin slice of tomato before drizzling it with balsamic vinegar. Hopefully he had done it somewhat right.

"I didn't think so."

Putting everything away Jasper grabbed a diet coke from the fridge. "I better get this up to her. Do you by chance know where she keeps her potions?"

"They are probably in her trunk." Charlie looked skeptical of the vampire once again. "You sure everything is okay?"

"Of course, sir." Nodding to Charlie in parting the vampire moved towards the door.

"Hey son," Charlie called after him, turning Jasper looked at the man curiously. "Thanks."


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Emily felt stronger but she was surprised to find that Jasper refused to leave her side. There was guilt in his eyes every time he looked at her and the witch understood that what he had witnessed had stirred something inside of him. The vampire was extremely attentive to her every need including prepping all her meals, he insisted she stay in bed and rest even though she felt well enough to do it herself.

"You really don't have to keep doing this," Emily said taking the offered cup of coffee.

"I want to."

"At this point you must have my father in a panic, let me go downstairs and at least see him for a minute so he knows I haven't died up here."

"He left for the reservation while you were resting in the bath, he didn't want to disturb you but Billy Black invited him on a two day fishing trip."

"And my brother? I haven't seen Nym or Harry in a few hours."

"Tagged along. Harry thought it would be good for Nym to see what he liked to do in the muggle world as a child." Jasper joined Emily on the bed and carefully pulled her into his side so she wouldn't spill her drink. "Something fun for them to share."

Emily looked up at the vampire as if he were crazy, "Fun? Has he lost his mind, Nym on a boat sounds like a terrible idea to me."

"Oh I'm betting she falls overboard," Jasper smirked clearly imagining the same sight as the witch.

"Five galleons she falls out at least three times."

"I think she'll learn her lesson after two."

Emily pictured the many times the metamorph had tripped over the troll leg at Grimmauld in the entryway and smiled, "I doubt it."

"You're on," Jasper said sealing the deal with a kiss to the witch's head. "You know it's surprising what a good fighter she is."

"I think her poor balance has something to do with her constant morphing. She is always playing with her appearance and I think her body just never has time to adjust and steady itself properly. When she fights, if you watch her long enough you'll notice she always uses the same form."

"Like a base form?"

"I don't know but I guess I could look it up, I now have full access to the Black family library and the ability is considered a Black family trait."

"Even if it doesn't tell you much it would be an interesting read."

Nodding Emily took a sip of her coffee, she hadn't really taken the time to go through the family library yet. She had always been eager to read the tombs that were forbidden to her at a younger age however here she was with full access and she hadn't even touched them.

The sound of a door slamming distracted the witch from her thoughts, "I guess that's Bella making her escape from being stuck alone in the house with me."

"I'm pretty sure she's the one that set all of this up, your father's fishing trip and her weekend away from the house."

Emily sent a wave of curiosity to the vampire as she took another sip of her coffee. Why would Bella need to send her father away when she didn't even plan on staying in the house herself?

Before Jasper could answer the witch his phone started to ring. Checking the name he decided he needed to take the call, giving Emily an apologetic look he answered. "Is everything okay?"

Emily shook her head at the vampire and Jasper watched as she grabbed her book before disappearing out into the hall. He was tempted to follow her but it only took a second for the high twinkling voice to call his attention back, "Jazz?"

"I'm here."

"Okay good, I just wanted to make sure you weren't planning on going back to the house tonight."

"I hadn't planned on it."

There was a sigh of relief from the other end of the line, "I had to check, I barely can see you anymore. I just get odd glimpses here and there."

"I'm surprised you're looking for me."

"You're my mate," Alice said simply and perhaps for her that was enough reason to watch out for him.

"Well I'm fine and I promise I have no plans to go back to the house."

"Good, Bella's going to try to seduce Edward tonight…"

Stopping the other vampire before she could get into more detail on whatever vision she had of the pair Jasper quickly cut in, "I really don't need to know Alice."

"It's not going to work anyway, he gets all awkward and refuses her."

"Eddie's a prude, of course he's going to turn her down!" Emmett's voice came booming through in the background. "If he can turn down Tanya, he can turn down a human! Ouch, Rosie what was that for?"

Jasper laughed as he heard his brother and sister start to bicker in the background before Alice cut them off, "Would you two go hunt, I'm trying to have a conversation with my husband!"

Husband, the word hung in Jasper's mind for a second. He didn't really feel like Alice's husband nor had he ever wanted to marry her but she had insisted. Her insistence turned into three weddings over the years that had no legal weight in any world be it muggle or magical. He never referred to Alice as his wife yet she never missed an opportunity to call him her husband.

"Jazz?"

"I'm still here," he answered running a hand through his hair.

"Good, I know you don't care but I thought I should also warn you, Edward is going to propose tonight."

"He's proposed before Alice and she never agrees to it."

"She will this time."

"Wonderful."

Alice sighed and the vampire imagined she was probably shaking her head as usual when he didn't give the answer she wanted. "Jazzy…" Jasper cringed as he always did when the woman used that name. He could live with Jazz it was a name his little sister had used when he was human but he had once been the God of War, the name Jazzy did not fit him at all. "You should be happy for Edward, he's finally found his mate."

"I'll be sure to congratulate him the next time I see him," the vampire added sarcastically but as usual his tone was lost on his 'mate'.

"Yay! Thank you! We're all going hunting tonight to power up for tomorrow, you could join us…"

"I'm good."

"Are you sure?" Jasper could tell he had disappointed the woman once again but he couldn't be bothered to care.

"I'm fine, I'll meet you all tomorrow. Have Emmett text me when you are heading to the field."

Without allowing Alice a chance to keep talking he hung up the phone and ran a hand over his face.

"What's tomorrow?" Emily had returned and was leaning against the doorframe. Her emotions seemed dulled and Jasper had a feeling she was doing it on purpose.

"The newborn army is coming."

"Has anyone contacted Aro?"

"No, Edward is far too paranoid about the Volturi. He worries that if Carlisle calls it will put added pressure on Bella's change."

Emily laughed, "Is he truly considering changing her?"

"He wavers but as of right now if she agrees to marry him then he will change her himself."

"He wants to marry her?"

"He's been asking since they returned from Italy."

"Well good luck to him I guess, Bella detests the idea of marriage."

"According to Alice tonight is the night she says yes."

Emily felt a pang of emotion run through her before she pushed it down. Why should she feel anything? She hated everything Edward stood for, hunting animals instead of humans, denying his true self to be more human… Disgust welled in her as she thought of those damn amber eyes. If the man wanted to continue to delude himself that humans and vampires could mate he was free to do so.

"Darlin'?" Jasper gave the witch an odd look as he felt the slight shifting of her emotions though he couldn't pin down exactly what was going on. "Are you okay? Do you need to lay back down?"

"I'm fine," she waved him off as she moved to stand in front of her fireplace. "You wouldn't happen to know how I could contact Aro, would you?"

"I personally no longer have his number but Peter or Garrett might, it has changed over the years."

"Can you ask them please?"

Moving to join Emily, Jasper wrapped his arms around her waist, "If that's what you want Darlin'."

"It is, I think it's time I speak with the brothers."

The next morning Jasper pulled his shirt over his head as Emily watched from the bed. It was something the witch often did when she procrastinated on their many journeys over the last year but this time she was staying behind. It felt odd preparing to fight without her coming along.

"Are you sure you don't want to join me?"

"And deny the Cullens their chance to play vampire?"

Jasper shook his head at the smirk that he saw cross Emily's face in the mirror. "I'm sure Emmett would be the only one disappointed and if you gave him a good show he would forgive you."

The witch laid back on the bed, her arms stretching over her head. Jasper had a strong urge to rip off his clothes and crawl back in with her but he held himself back. "You'll be fine without me," she yawned. "Me being there will only open a jar of flobberworms for you."

The vampire wished he could tell her that her presence would do no such thing but they both knew he would be lying. Shrugging he moved and kissed the witch's head, "I'll come back as soon as I can."

Emily nodded as she waited for the vampire to take his leave. Once he had jumped from her window she reached for the paper he had left on the nightstand. Sighing as her feet touch the cold floor she summoned some slippers before making her way down to the living room. Picking up the phone she dialed the number written on the scrap piece of paper.

"Ciao, thank you for calling the Volterra Museo. How may I direct your call?"

"I need to speak to Aro."

"There is no…"

Emily cut off the other voice before the woman could finish her lie, "Tell him Death is calling and she is rather annoyed."

"Right away."

Emily lounged high up in a tree overlooking the clearing where the Cullens were preparing with the wolves to fight the newborns. The seer had told the group that the 'army' planned to attack from both sides of the field so Jasper had split them up to prepare to counter and catch the newborns off guard.

It wasn't long before the newborns came rushing towards the clearing likely driven mad by Bella's scent, they were completely erratic and had little skill, the fight wouldn't last long. Carlisle and Esme seemed to stick together while the others shifted through the chaos finding a target on their own. It was no surprise to the witch that Jasper appeared to be doing the majority of the work, protecting the others from their inability to use their true senses to fight.

"How did they get the wolves to help them?" a male voice caught Emily's attention from below.

Looking down she noticed a small group of vampires in varying shades of grey cloaks and she couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face. Allowing her body to take on the form of mist she vanished from her place in the tree and reappeared leaning against its trunk. "I think you'll find the shifters are also rather attached to the human."

The five Volturi guards turned instantly prepared to attack the newcomer but the smallest one froze upon noticing the witch. Emily wore a black silk dress with long sleeves and her hair fell in waves down the left side of her face, her eyes sparkled with mirth at the idea of the possible attempt to attack her.

Jane raised her hand as she dropped to a knee and pulled back her hood looking back at the others with a promise of pain if they didn't follow suit. "Mistress, it is an honor. Caius sends his regards and asked me to wish you well."

"You have spoken to your Kings recently?"

"We have, just before coming to the field to wait as we were instructed until the fighting had ended."

"Good and the human?"

"Is not to be harmed, though I can't understand why you would wish to save such a pathetic being." The small vampire ducked her head as she realized what she had said aloud and to whom she had said it. The woman was deadly and had no aversion to killing. It was said during the war she had wiped out several magical covens in England without getting as much as a scratch. Usually the small vampire would see this more as a challenge but the kings had assured her even they couldn't protect her if she provoked the witch. "I apologize, I should not have said that."

Emily laughed as she motioned for the group to stand, "No harm done, all is well. If the circumstances were different I would gladly let you end the human now but unfortunately I cannot do that. But rest assured becoming a vampire is Bella's deepest desire, by changing her sentence and allowing her to remain human the Cullens will likely reconsider turning her at all which will be a punishment that will guarantee her unhappiness."

Jane nodded as a yelp drew the group's attention to the clearing. A wolf was injured as what appeared to be the last newborn was taken down. It hadn't taken them long and Jasper looked rather annoyed as he glared at the wolves who huddled around the hurt member of their tribe.

"They've missed one," one of the men announced shifting everyone's focus to the young girl shaking at Emmett's feet.

Jane looked to Emily as if asking for her instruction on how to proceed. "So they have, do what you feel is in your Kings' best interest. As long as the human remains alive I care for little else."

Smirking Jane bowed her head and made to move toward the field.

"I would wait," Emily instructed halting the movements of the vampires. "Once the shifters have gone and Edward has returned with his prize then I would show yourselves. I wouldn't want Bella to miss out on learning she no longer must be turned."

"Of course you are right Mistress," Jane nodded once again. "I am hasty and the guards are restless having missed a chance to fight, it is better to wait."

"There will certainly be plenty of battles to come, men and vampires alike are always finding reasons to spill each other's blood," Emily offered as she took one last look at the clearing. "And ones far more difficult than what we have witnessed today."

The vampires stood momentarily stunned as the witch before them turned to a black mist and vanished from their sight.

Emily was lying on the couch, the TV playing in the background when her family finally came home. She had once again attempted to find something to amuse her on the muggle contraption and had landed on a cooking channel which to her surprise wasn't as bad as she expected.

"I could have helped him," Harry pleaded as the front door closed.

"And I said no," Charlie's voice was stern. "Carlisle was there and he is an amazing doctor, Jake will be just fine."

"But I have ways that could heal him faster, the entire right side of his body is broken."

"And I get that but what were you going to do, tell them you're a wizard and then hand them a magical potion? Do you know how crazy you would sound?"

"I know!" Harry sounded frustrated but Emily kept her eyes shut not yet wishing to join in on the discussion. "But at least I could have tried something. There has to be some Skelegrow around here somewhere."

"I think your Dad is right," Nym spoke for the first time. "You can't help everyone and you don't know how they would react. There was something weird going on with those boys."

There was a sigh followed by loud footsteps and a door slamming. Opening her eyes Emily watched as Nym smiled at Charlie before running towards the backdoor where Harry had likely taken his leave from.

"Good trip?" Emily asked causing her father to turn, his hand covering his heart.

"I didn't see you there," the man moved towards the witch and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "You look better."

"I was never unwell," Emily countered moving to sit up. Her father gave her a disbelieving look but he didn't voice his thoughts instead he moved to sit in his favorite chair. "How was your trip?"

"It was fun, though did you know Dora is almost as clumsy as Bells. I swear, we couldn't even let her move on the boat because every time she stood she fell overboard."

Laughing the witch nodded, "She certainly is good at tripping over air."

Charlie started to chuckle as the front door was thrown open. Bella was in tears as she made her way towards the stairs. "Bells?"

"I'm not staying," the girl yelled as she tripped trying to get up the staircase. Emily looked over at her father who quickly followed his daughter and stood next to the railing. "Jake's been hurt I want to go see him."

"How did you know?"

"Edward called me," Bella lied.

She disappeared into her room as Charlie looked back at Emily. "The boy had a motorcycle accident."

"I'm sure he did," but Emily's tone only earned an eye roll from her father as he turned back towards the stairs.

"Did you at least have a good time with Alice?"

"It was okay," the girl yelled emerging from her room having changed her jacket. "But I really hate shopping."

"We've noticed," Emily said looking the girl up and down as she came rushing back down the stairs. Bella was wearing a pair of ripped jeans that she had likely torn taking a fall at some point and a plain blue t-shirt under her oversized green raincoat.

"Jake will be fine Bells," Charlie tried to appease the girl as she stopped next to him. "Carlisle is there now and I doubt he'll be in much state to see people for a while."

"I really need to see him though, I'll be back later tonight."

The human rushed out of the house and Charlie turned back to Emily who tossed him the controller as she stood. "Well I'm going up to my bed. I have a feeling you are about to watch some game and if I'm going to fall asleep I might as well do it from the comfort of my own bed."

"Ha ha, you could try and learn something about it for once. You might end up liking it."

"Can anyone fall off a broom a few hundred feet?" The look Charlie gave Emily was one of exasperation and she couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her. "Then I doubt it."

Making her way upstairs Emily opened the door to her room to find a rather distraught looking vampire standing by her fire.

"I hear congratulations are in order," she greeted the man.

He looked towards the witch and waved off her words, "My fight was rather simple, the congratulations lay with my family. Though I'm told Jasper did most of the work."

"I was speaking of your engagement."

"Oh," Edward answered turning to look at the fire. Emily gave him a moment as she moved to sit on her bed more comfortably. "I'm not sure if there is an engagement."

Emily was slightly shocked at the announcement, a giddiness ran through her at the idea that she quickly pushed down. Why did she keep having strong reactions to this man, she shouldn't feel anything for such a weak being who couldn't even accept his own fate in life. "And why is that?"

Edward merely shook his head as he continued to stare into the flames before him. "Did you know she wants to get married in Vegas at one of those drive-thru things in sweats?"

"I'm not surprised, Bella was not raised the same way you or I were. Whether you like it or not the morals and values of your time no longer hold true in the muggle world. To her marriage is likely no more than a piece of paper."

"But it means something to me. I thought I would be happy when she finally agreed but it was fleeting."

"And so you hide out in my room?"

"I didn't know where else to go. So many things have happened today, I'm not sure what to do."

The silence stretched on as Edward kept his back to the witch. Lying down on her back Emily allowed the vampire a few minutes to his own thoughts but as time dragged on she couldn't help herself from speaking, "Are you going to tell me what happened or should I ready for bed and allow you to stand there all night."

For a moment he didn't answer and so Emily pushed herself up and began readying herself for bed.

"She kissed him," Edward said catching Emily's attention as she climbed into her bed.

"Who?"

"Jacob Black."

"I didn't realize they were that close." Her father would be pleased to hear the news.

"He somewhat tricked her into it but I guess what surprises me is she fell for it. He overheard us talking and I mentioned that she agreed to marry me, when he confronted us she ran after him livid at me for bringing it up when I knew he was close enough to hear us."

"Why agree to get married if no one knows?"

"She says she wanted to wait until the fight was over but I think she's not okay with the idea just yet herself."

"I hate to break this to you…"

"No you don't."

"Fair enough I don't, but Bella may never be okay with the idea of marriage. The world she lives in and the examples she has are not going to endear her to a union."

"But you've had the same examples."

"In a way yes. I have always known my father's position on marriage, especially when one is young but my world is completely different. Marriage is expected and often contracted, I've seen many loving relationships and I'm not fearful of the idea."

The vampire sighed as he finally moved to sit on the trunk at the end of Emily's bed. "It may not matter anyway I don't know if I can keep my end of the 'compromise' in good faith anymore."

"Why?" Emily prompted but she thought she might have an idea.

"The Volturi had decreed that Bella was to be changed." Edward glanced at Emily nervously, he seemed worried at what her reaction would be but she merely appeared bored so he continued, "She wanted me to be the one to turn her. I have never wanted that life for her but I agreed that if she would marry me I would change her myself."

"Go on," Emily pressed as the vampire fell silent once more.

"Today some of the guard came to Forks, they were here to supposedly help get rid of the newborns. Though they conveniently showed up after it was all over."

Emily smirked the vampire had no idea that the guard would have loved to join the fight though one could barely call it that but it was her idea that they should wait. "I'm sure seeing Bella human didn't help," the witch said playing stupid.

"That's the thing, they seemed glad she was still human and told us the Kings no longer desired her to be changed."

"How odd."

"Yes how odd," a deep southern drawl added. Emily turned and smiled as she saw Jasper standing in her doorway. "The brother's aren't often known for showing such mercy to a human."

"Perhaps they no longer view her as a threat," Emily countered.

"Aro wanted her though," Edward said looking back towards the fire and ignoring his brother's entrance. "In Italy I could read how curious he was about her."

"I don't think the Volturi are something you need to worry about right now Edward."

"I agree, I thought you would be celebrating brother," Jasper said moving into the room. Kicking off his shoes he climbed on the bed next to the witch and kissed her head.

"How do you know?"

"Alice."

Shaking his head Edward leaned forward and ran a hand through his hair, "Does the rest of the family know yet?"

"No but I'm sure they will shortly, when I left she was already planning out the wedding. It's on August 13th by the way. I may be out of the country at the time but I promise to send a gift for the charade."

"Out of the country?" Emily asked looking up at the man next to her.

"Draco's wedding is in August, I thought you might like some company."

"When did you decide this?"

"I've been thinking about it for a few days now."

"Have you?"

The vampire nodded before looking towards Edward, "Why does he look like that?"

"Human troubles."

"When haven't you had human troubles lately?" Jasper addressed the sullen looking vampire. "I thought you two would at least be together tonight after she finally said yes."

"The engagement is a sore point," Emily said closing her eyes, why must everyone be discussing the human in her room tonight.

"What's sore?" Nym drew everyone's attention as she entered the room and threw herself onto her bed.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked as she watched the metamorph roll over and cover her eyes with one of her arms.

"I'm going to bed."

"You're fully dressed."

The witch pulled out her wand and dragged it down her body, instantly her clothes morphed into a bright pink t-shirt and pajama pants. "Now I'm ready."

"Didn't want to sleep with Harry tonight?"

"Is Bella gone?"

"For now."

The metamorph shrugged, "He's down watching some random baseball game on TV with your Dad. I never understood why muggles love that sport so much."

"So he calmed down?"

"Yeah, his fit didn't last that long. He's getting better but you know how he gets with his saving people complex."

"True, do you want me to put up a silencing ward for you?"

The only answer the witch received was a thumbs up. Smirking at the girl's behavior Emily took out her wand and pointed it at the other bed in the room, after a few seconds a thin dome seemed to appear around the object before disappearing.

"Saving people, who is there for him to save in Forks?" Jasper asked his hand coming up to play with the ends of Emily's hair.

"He saw Jacob Black being brought home, Harry thinks he was in a bad motorcycle accident and was mad my father stopped him from offering to help."

"He probably could do more than Carlisle."

"I doubt it, Harry has never been good at medical spells. The best he could offer is a potion someone else prepared."

Jasper conceded the point having on several occasions witnessed the boy panic at seeing an injury and unable to aid the victim had acted rashly, lashing out at others or running off to start a fight in supposed revenge.

"He has a short fuse," Edward commented likely reading Jasper's thoughts.

Emily nodded, "He's a Gryffindor, what else can you expect?"

"A Gryffindor?"

"It's the House he was in at school. There are four Houses, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

"Which House were you in?"

"Slytherin," Emily smirked opening her mind enough to show Edward the wonder of her green lit common room and the splendor of her hand carved ebony bed in the dorms. She missed the castle at times especially the earlier years when she spent the majority of her time in the dungeons with Draco brewing potions or playing chess. Closing her mind off once again she leaned into Jasper who instantly wrapped his arm around her.

Edward was in awe of what he was shown but noticing the way his brother's thoughts were turning as his hand trailed up and down the witch's arm he supposed it was time to leave. He could already feel the jealousy and anger growing and with how confused he already was about his current relationship it was better to leave them be, for now. "I should go."

"You don't have to leave brother," Jasper offered but his thoughts read quite differently, he was already focused on a very naked Emily.

"I think I need some time alone," Edward countered rising and moving to the door. As he was about to grab the handle a silver bracelet sitting on the nightstand grabbed his attention. Turning to the witch the vampire almost wanted to laugh as Jasper was urging him to hurry up. "Do you remember a bracelet you gave Bella?"

"Of course I do," Emily answered moving her body more onto Jasper's so she could see the vampire.

"It's just the strangest thing happened the other day, it came off when Carlisle had to examine her hand and I swore I heard her thoughts."

"You did."

"I see, so her mind is silent to me due to the bracelet?"

"With the life Harry and I lead we couldn't have Bella divulging our secrets whether she realized it or not. Wizards trained in Legilimency can read minds so she needed to be protected. My Uncle Remus used to use charms but they can only do so much for so long. When I was twelve I met a man who worked in the tombs of Egypt, he and I both had a love for runes so we naturally struck a 'friendship'. The bracelet was his idea, a find from one of his many job sites."

"Does she know what it does? She refuses to take it off."

"To an extent. There's a compulsion that William and I added to it, the drawn in rune makes it longer lasting and keeps her from wanting to remove the bracelet."

"Makes more sense, I was surprised when she told me you gave it to her because she always has it on."

"I may have had to use a spell to compel her to put it on at first but once on she never will want to remove it, it's for the best."

"Could it stop her from telling people your secret?"

"No, it merely effects the mind. I could add compulsion spells I guess to stop her from sharing information but that's very complex, I'd need multiple bands. If I was worried though I would save the energy and obliviate her."

Jasper raised an eyebrow at the witch, "Your father would be okay with you doing that?"

"He has always known it was a possibility, if she gets upset and we think she might break the secrecy act I will have no other choice."

"I'm sorry, what does obliviate mean?" Edward interjected his hand still hovering over the door handle.

"It means I could erase her memory of what I am from her mind, she would never again remember or know about my world and all she has witnessed of it would be removed."

"Oh," Edward nodded his head, thoughts started flying through his brain at what he had just heard. He needed to go home and think about everything. Looking toward the couple he gave a short bow of the head, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Edward."


End file.
